[Salon] Revealing exchange with Janet Yellen

[Chas Freeman <cwfresidence@gmail.com>]

https://twitter.com/RnaudBertrand/status/1789488343513969066

Fantastically revealing exchange with Janet Yellen. The interviewer asks her: "[Regarding China's] overcapacity in advanced products, electric vehicles, batteries, all of those things. Is it possible we’re just being outcompeted by the Chinese in those fields?" Yellen replies "Well, we don’t think the playing field is level." Which essentially means "yes we're being outcompeted but the Chinese don't play fair"... She goes on to explain that it's because "China is massively subsidizing investment in this set of industries". Which by the way has been repeatedly debunked like here in this Bloomberg article: https://bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2024-03-25/china-easy-money-isn-t-driving-this-clean-tech-boom… To which the interviewer replies: "Subsidizing more than we are with our investments in the CHIPS Act and the infrastructure and all that? Because we’re pouring billions — you are pouring billions in." And there Yellen admits "yes, we’re very explicitly subsidizing investments in these important strategic areas." The VERY thing she's complaining the Chinese are doing!!! You literally couldn't make it up Source: https://marketplace.org/2024/05/09/inflation-is-not-yet-where-it-needs-to-be-treasury-secretary-yellen-says/