Janet Yellen Is Struggling at the Treasury Job She Never Wanted (opens in new tab)

The headline would have you believe Yellen or Biden's administration are failing in some way, yet the article only contains quotes like:

> In a statement, Deese rejected the notion that she was marginalized.

> Treasury spokesperson Lily Adams says, “Secretary Yellen’s first 17 months at the Treasury have featured a series of highly consequential achievements

> Once Yellen was on board, it was her idea to freeze the Bank of Russia’s assets, rather than ban currency transactions. That proved to be an astute move

> Yellen’s standing overseas remains as high as ever

> Sullivan, Biden’s national security adviser, says her “skill and diplomacy helped us rally the world to maximize the pain on Putin’s war machine.”

Sounds to me like she's just doing her job and reporters are trying to needlessly dramatize it.

Technically and politically piloting one of the largest countries economies is a complicated job. I would expect there to be some friction and disagreements between it's stewards as they navigate one of the most complicated periods in modern history.

What exactly is her job at the treasury? I think it was supposed to be properly funding the government with treasury note sales, but clearly that’s a non-issue with the unlimited Fed balance sheet. It seems to be what every leader of bureaucracy does: expand the power of their agency into every possible new domain using policies backed by threat of de facto power rather than law. She makes verbal policy guidance about inequality, social justice, climate change, sanctions, war, sexuality, gender, and whatever else, all backed up by the unlimited and unchecked power of selective tax and AML interpretation and enforcement.

We tried to build a nation of laws, but that became too complex. Now we’re back to power and personalities. Maybe that’s for the best; I don’t know. I’ve lost track of exactly what our society is supposed to be optimizing for.

Janet Yellen should have jacked up interest rates during Obama's second term. Instead, she was helping Obama's administration then.

So anonymous tattletales reported that she isn't being invited to 'huddles.'

"Deese, speaking on Fox News earlier this month, called Yellen the team’s 'chief spokesperson on the economy.' Yet through Biden’s first nine months in power, Klain neglected to invite her to strategy huddles where Treasury had a stake, according to several officials familiar with the situation. That meant Yellen was unaware of some key economic messaging even if she was on the daily senior staff calls. Klain declined to comment."

This isn't news, it's gossip. There's a huge difference between professional writing and journalism. This is barely either and definitely not the latter.

Or maybe because she is 75 and should have retired 10 years ago at least.