Dark-Horse Prospect Adds Twist To Fed Race

[Dover]

Source: American Banker

WASHINGTON — While Lawrence Summers, the director of the National Economic Council
is the most visible potential successor to Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke, observers are increasingly looking west and finding a dark-horse candidate in Janet Yellen.

The president of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, Yellen is a well-respected economist who has served as a governor of the central bank, head of the Council of Economic Advisors under President Clinton, and would be the first woman to chair the Fed. Though it is unclear if President Obama will choose to keep Bernanke, Yellen's name is gaining traction as a possible alternative.

"If President Obama elects to choose someone else, I think Janet Yellen would be a very good candidate," said Sung Won Sohn, a lecturer in business and economics at California State University Channel Islands. "She would definitely be less controversial than Larry Summers. It's no secret that he has some what you might call detractors, especially on Capitol Hill."

The San Francisco Fed declined to make Yellen available for an interview, but in conversations with numerous former colleagues and associates, many of whom requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the topic, Yellen was invariably described as "articulate" and "not in your face."

In other words, the exact opposite of Summers, who has a history of alienating colleagues, most notably when he had to resign the presidency of Harvard University after making comments perceived as disparaging to women...cont'd


Read more: http://www.americanbanker.com:80/issues/174_155/dark_horse_prospect_adds_twist_to_fed_race-1000952-1.html?ET=americanbanker:e256:2075525a:&st=email

[No Elephants]

1. Wouldn't it be ironic if a woman were chosen over Summers?

"Cmments perceived as disparaging to women? He speculated that women are probably genetically inferior to men in the fields of math and science. How can anyone, male or female, NOT perceive that as disparaging to women? Even if you assume he is 100% correct (and some morans who post here do assume that), it's still disparaging to women.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2005/01/17/summers_remarks_on_women_draw_fire/

BTW, for over twenty years, I have heard female doctors complain about gender discrimination in Harvard medical research programs. Coincidence?

[Sam1]

2. but does she have the necessary history at Goldman Sachs?