Motley Moose – Archive

Reuters: Obama picks Yellen for top Fed job, urges quick Senate approval

President Barack Obama nominated Federal Reserve Vice Chair Janet Yellen on Wednesday to run the world’s most influential central bank and urged the Senate to confirm her without delay.

Yellen, an advocate for aggressive action to stimulate U.S. economic growth through low interest rates and large-scale bond purchases, would replace Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, whose second term ends on January 31.

The nomination will put Yellen on course to be the first woman to lead the institution and the first to head a central bank in any Group of Seven industrial nation.

Reports are that this action calmed the market which is in a bit of turmoil leading up to a possible U.S. government default on the debt.

Janet Yellen at the announcement today:

“Too many Americans still can’t find a job and worry how they’ll pay their bills and provide for their families,” the current Fed vice chairwoman said at a White House press conference. “The Federal Reserve can help if it does its job effectively. We can help insure that everyone has the opportunity to work hard and build a better life.

“We can insure that inflation remains in check and doesn’t undermine the benefits of a growing economy,” she added, flanked by President Obama and outgoing chair Ben Bernanke. “We can and must safeguard the financial system. The fed has powerful tools to influence the economy and the financial system. But I believe its greatest strength rests in its capacity to approach important decisions with expertise and objectivity.”

From Wikipedia:

Janet Louise Yellen (born August 13, 1946) is an American economist and professor who is the Vice Chair of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. Previously, she was President and Chief Executive Officer of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, Chair of the White House Council of Economic Advisers under President Bill Clinton, and Professor Emerita at the University of California, Berkeley’s Haas School of Business. On October 9, 2013, President Obama nominated Yellen to be the head of the Federal Reserve.

Yellen was born in Brooklyn, New York, the daughter of Anna (née Blumenthal) and Julius Yellen, a doctor. She graduated from Fort Hamilton High School in the Bay Ridge section of Brooklyn. She graduated summa cum laude from Brown University with a degree in economics in 1967, and received her Ph.D. in economics from Yale University in 1971.