Yellen at Treasury Ticks Enough Boxes for Left-Leaning Democrats
- She ran a pro-jobs Fed and backs tighter financial regulation
- Concerns center on her record as fiscal hawk before pandemic
Early in Janet Yellen’s leadership of the Federal Reserve, protesters began showing up outside Fed conferences to demand the central bank do more to help working Americans and minority groups.
The activists were there to criticize –- but Yellen ended up winning them over, even to the point that they were vocal in supporting her for the second term at the Fed she was denied by President Donald Trump. Now she’s won the backing of progressive Democrats to become President-elect Joe Biden’s choice to serve as America’s first female Treasury secretary.
Yellen, 74, is set to take up the post at a turbulent time for the U.S. economy, with millions thrown out of their jobs by the pandemic, and low-earners, women and people of color among those taking the biggest hits even as stock markets have roared back.