Janet Yellen

No one else has ever been better prepared to lead the U.S.’s response to a financial crisis than Janet Yellen. The only person in history to serve as the President’s chief economic adviser, the vice chair and chair of the Federal Reserve, and Secretary of the Treasury, Yellen has been at the center of the financial universe for a generation. Her integrity and analytical acumen are universally admired. With the country facing the perils of inflation, recession, a possible federal default, and a metastasizing banking crisis, the success of the Biden presidency and America’s place in the world rest on her policy judgments. The actions taken by U.S. financial authorities, with Yellen’s leadership, in the wake of Silicon Valley Bank’s collapse in early March have brought stability and prevented bank runs. It’s clear that Treasury Secretary Yellen has made and will make much more history.

Summers is a professor and former U.S. Treasury Secretary

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