Morning Must-Read: Tim Mulaney: Here’s What I Thought the Biggest Difference [Between Bernanke and Yellen] Was
Tim Mulaney: “Here’s what I thought the biggest difference [between Bernanke and Yellen] was:
Yellen’s invocation of the continuing struggles of people involuntarily working part-time, and the ongoing struggle of workers around the middle of the income strata to get a raise of much more than 2% a year. Delivered with what passes for passion among economists, it was a sharp contrast with Bernanke’s last press conference in December, where he mentioned wages only in passing and didn’t mention the part-timers at all…. Her argument was that inflation can’t be close if wage gains are lousy and 5% of U.S. workers are stuck in part-time jobs…. A Fed that worries as much about part-timers as plutocrats? Is that a gaffe? Maybe on K Street. Probably, on parts of Wall Street. On Main Street, it’s a breath of fresh air.