Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has warned that “veering off course” in the 2024 election could inflict significant damage on the economy.
Yell said that there were several signs of life in the economy under the Biden-Harris administration, and that turning away from those successes in November could “jeopardize our economic trajectory,” in a tacit endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris.
Writing in an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal on Sunday, Yellen said: “While there’s more to do to bring down the cost of living, Americans can feel optimistic about their economic futures.
“Because wages have risen faster than prices, the typical American can now afford more goods and services than before the pandemic.”
While Yellen accepted that more needed to be done to address the issues of the cost of living, she also made a clear statement to voters looking ahead to the election in November, warning that “veering off course could jeopardize our economic trajectory.”
“None of this has happened by chance,” she continued, claiming that Harris and Biden had inherited an economy on the brink of collapse.
“In that first year, our administration provided financial support to households and prevented an eviction crisis. We vaccinated millions to save lives and allow businesses to reopen safely.”
In a slight against Trump, without naming the former president directly, Yellen added that tax cuts for higher earners would “explode the federal deficit,” and that pursuing “nontargeted, nonstrategic international economic policies” would only worsen Americans’ cost of living crisis.
Newsweek contacted the Harris and Trump campaigns for a response to the secretary’s comments.
43 days out from the election, voters still seem to be siding with Trump on economic issues. According to the latest national NBC News poll, Trump holds a strong lead on both inflation and the economy.
When asked which candidate they believed would be better equipped to deal with the two issues, 48 percent chose Trump on the issue of inflation, compared to 40 percent for Harris.
Half of respondents, meanwhile, said they trusted the former president to deal with the economy better than the vice president, who garnered only 41 percent of the poll.
However, the Harris campaign was emboldened by new updates to American spending habits which released last week. Retail sales data published monthly by the U.S. Census Bureau, showed that sales in August increased 0.1 percent from July for a total of $710.8 billion, up from $710.4 billion.
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