PODCAST: Janet Yellen nominated to be chair of Federal Reserve
At 3pm today, President Obama is expected to nominated Janet Yellen to be the next Fed chair. As Fed chairs go, Janet Yellen is pretty well prepared. She’s been at the Fed on and off for the past 20 years. At 67, Janet Yellen inherits a Fed that’s been trying unconventional ways to remove that slack. She strongly supported Ben Bernanke’s policy of pumping trillions of dollars into the economy to keep interest rates low. But she will have the delicate task of turning off the tap and pulling that money back out.
Yellin has been on the shortlist to replace Ben Bernanke as chair of the Federal Reserve since long before former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers dropped out of contention over the summer. Gus Faucher, senior economist at PNC Financial Services Group, talks about what monetary policy is likely to be under a Yellen Fed, and tells Marketplace Morning Report host David Brancaccio how Wall Street is reacting to her nomination.
Not everyone suffered because of the Great Recession. According to an analysis from The Wall Street Journal, billionaire Warren Buffett made a 40 percent return on investments his firm Berkshire Hathaway made in troubled blue chip companies five years ago — a kind of private sector, TARP-like bailout plan. Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, General Electric, and candy maker Mars, Inc. subsidiary Wrigley were among the beneficiaries of Buffett’s largess.
Stories You Might Like
There’s a lot happening in the world. Through it all, Marketplace is here for you.
You rely on Marketplace to break down the world’s events and tell you how it affects you in a fact-based, approachable way. We rely on your financial support to keep making that possible.
Your donation today powers the independent journalism that you rely on. For just $5/month, you can help sustain Marketplace so we can keep reporting on the things that matter to you.
