Janet Yellen: The Typical Wage Earner Is Able to Afford Now the Same Basket of Goods and Services as Back Before the Pandemic

COLBERT: “Secretary Yellen, good to see you again. Thanks for being here. Are you ready for this?”
Yellen: “I’m ready.”
COLBERT: “I’m bringing out hot and hard. Okay, here we go. On Monday will be the dramatic conclusion of the Biden Administration with a bit of a twist ending. Are you sad to leave? Are you ready to relax? What are you going to do?”
Yellen: “Well, it’s bittersweet. I have a wonderful team. We have worked so well together and I’m going to really miss them. We will all miss one another. But we feel proud of what we’ve been able to accomplish. Recently, the economists said the U.S. economy is the envy of the world.
(Cheering and Applause)
It’s firing on all cylinders.”
COLBERT: “Why do you think — this past election made it clear that 49.9% of American voters don’t agree with you or don’t agree with the economists, and that the economy was, according to polling, one of the biggest reasons why people put Donald Trump back into office. Why do you think that message about the good economy, as you say, the best economy in the world right now, especially of the advanced nations, came out of Covid in the best shape regards of our inflation. Could you have been a better cheerleader for the economy?”
Yellen: “Well, tried and tried to explain why we were doing the best we could. We did see a huge increase in prices, something like 20% increase in the general price level over about three years. Now, every advanced country saw exactly the same thing. When Russia invaded Ukraine, energy prices rose, food price increases were associated with that. This was a shock to Americans and it came on top of a long period in which people have been really struggling with high housing costs, high healthcare costs, energy price bills, childcare, making so many people feel it’s tough to lead a middle-class life. Now, when I look at the data, what it tells me is that wages also increased. According to our calculations, the typical wage earner is able to afford now the same basket of goods and services as back before the pandemic, with $1600 left over to save or spend. So, the typical worker is better off.”
(Applause)