Hold The Champagne And Truffles: Yellen’s Story Not Yet Written

Janet Yellen chaired her last Fed meeting today. On her watch, stocks soared and unemployment fell. Hold the cheers.

Goodbye Janet, hello Jerome. Today, the FOMC unanimously selected Jerome H. Powell to serve as its Chairman, effective February 3, 2018.

This came about because Trump did not reappoint Yellen.

Under her watch, as Chair, the stock market hit record highs, there was no recession, and unemployment crashed.

Accolades Pour In

Business Insider says Janet Yellen will be Sorely Missed. “Yellen’s departure from the Fed is a huge loss for anyone who cares about unemployment.”

Sam Bell ay Politico says the Dismissal of Yellen is a Tragedy. “By any measure, she was one of the most successful Fed chairs in history. Why didn’t Trump keep her around?”

Ya gotta love Bell’s last line “And hopefully Americans will remember Yellen’s admonition—‘keep refilling the punch bowl until the guests have all arrived.‘”

Hold the Champagne

Hold the champagne, the praise, and the truffles.

While it’s true, unemployment crashed under Yellen, it’s also true the Fed sponsored the biggest stock market bubble in history on her watch.

Few see that now just as few saw the housing bubble fueled by Greenspan and Bernanke. And Yellen was part of the housing bubble-blowing affair too, just not as the Chair.

Not only did Yellen “keep refilling the punch bowl until the guests arrived” she kept refilling the punch bowl long after every guest was drunk.

There’s quite a bit of sobering up to do.

Few will be singing accolades for Yellen when realization hits the Fed blew it again.