The Fed’s Janet Yellen, right person for the right time by Ken Cynar, executive vp, Governance & Accountability Institute

by Ken Cynar – Exec VP – G&A Institute
San Francisco Fed Bank President Janet Yellen, called “an unwavering advocate of the Federal Reserve’s aggressive steps to boost the U.S. economy,” is the right person for the right time to head the Federal Reserve System. Politics aside, she is highly qualified, focused and skilled in the fundamental role of the Federal Reserve and how it has evolved during the tenure of outgoing Chairman Ben Bernanke.
“If you were dreaming up a training school for Fed chairmen, it would be her life story,” stated Princeton University economist Alan Blinder, a former Fed Vice Chairman. Experience, experience and more experience jumps off her resume having spent more than a decade at the Fed.
Michael Hirsh of the National Journal described her as “…a nonideologue who will relentlessly follow the facts, whether they lead her toward solutions on the left or the right.”
Isn’t that what we are looking for in a Fed Chairperson? These are the kind of nominations that Americans seek. On paper she looks great; she has the experience, and has demonstrated the temperament. Does that mean I or the American people will always agree with her decisions? Well no, but at least there would be confidence that her direction was based on an intelligent analysis of the facts guided by her tenure at the Fed.
Thomas Ferraro of Reuters quotes Carl Tannenbaum, chief economist at Chicago’s Northern Trust “She really isn’t a new hand at all. She certainly will not need to be oriented to what’s going on over there, and so I expect a very smooth transition.”
A “smooth transition” is important as not to overly disturb the world markets who as to quote country singing star Tennessee Ernie Ford are as “nervous as a long tailed cat in a room full or rocking chairs.”
That’s how I see it……