Janet Yellen, the Chair of the Federal Reserve, is trying hard to find the path to take after Donald Trump becomes President of the United States. She was, of course, appointed by the Democratic President Barack Obama.
Yellen gave a press conference yesterday to discuss that very issue. The conference came after the Fed announced America’s first serious interest rate hike in a decade raising the benchmark rate by a quarter of a percentage point to between 0.50% and 0.75%.
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Yellen made it very clear that she intends to serve out her full four year term which lasts until February 2018 saying, “I’m a strong believer in the independence of the Fed.”
On Donald Trump’s penchant for singling out specific businesses like Boeing on Twitter, which some say is more about revenge that public policy, Janet Yellin said, “I’m not going to offer the incoming president advice about how to conduct himself in policy.”
On economic policies in general she said, “We’re operating under a cloud of uncertainty at the moment.”
Since unemployment is at a nine year low, Yellen also questioned the need for Donald Trump’s proposed $1 trillion stimulus plan saying, “I would say at this point that fiscal policy is not obviously needed to provide stimulus to help us get back to full employment.” She fears that such a plan would cause a spur in inflation as well as increase the national debt.
Janet Yellin was optimistic about the economy as a whole, saying that the Fed expects that, “the economy will continue to perform well, with the job market strengthening further and inflation rising to 2% over the next couple of years.”
