Gov. Chris Sununu, the Republican governor of New Hampshire, said Sunday that if he were president, he would fire Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen for misleading the American people about inflation.
“I would fire the finance minister. I think she completely fooled America because she didn’t want to admit the bad news. But this is part of public services. You have to own the good with the bad. You have to ease people into it and present them with a glide path,” Sununu said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
Inflation remains at its highest level in four decades, gas and food prices are still hitting consumers’ pockets — and these economic problems are expected to be among the top issues in November’s midterm elections, which could decide who controls Congress.
Yellen, after insisting last year that inflation was “transient,” conceded during an interview with CNN in May that she was “wrong.”
Gov. Chris Sununu said if he were president, he would fire Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen. John Cherry/Getty Images for Concordia Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen admitted during an interview with CNN in May that she was “wrong” about inflation. AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana
“I was wrong then about the path inflation would take,” she said. “As I mentioned, there were unexpected and major shocks to the economy that drove up energy and food prices and supply disruptions that badly affected our economy, which I didn’t fully understand at the time, but we do now. “
Sununu also accused her of predicting a recession on the horizon, criticizing Yellen for saying the outcome was “not inevitable.”
“You can’t add $5 trillion to America’s balance sheet and just hope it goes away. The recession is coming. The Fed, I think, has known this for some time. They kind of overlooked it. They should have eased us into the right rates and where we need to go over a year ago,” he said.
“You had a finance minister saying, oh well, it’s not inevitable,” Sununu continued. “Of course, it’s inevitable. You don’t need four years in Dartmouth Economics to know that when you add that $5 trillion, there has to be some result.
The governor acknowledged that gas prices are starting to fall after averaging about $5 a gallon, but he also noted that home heating costs are expected to jump to record levels this winter, which will adversely affect families with low income and others on fixed incomes.
New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu told CNN’s Jake Tapper that he believes a recession is coming. CNN
“And that reality will show itself in the most difficult moments, won’t it? Now we have high energy prices. It costs you twice as much to fill your tank. It costs about twice as much to create baseload generation,” he said. “And all of that is really paying off. And it’s not going away anytime soon.”
Add Comment