RUSH EXCERPT:
YELLEN: “So, we had rapid recovery from the pandemic. When President Biden was elected, unemployment was quite high. It was close to 7%. And we put policies in place that generated a very rapid recovery. Unemployment quickly fell back into the threes.”
COLBERT: “What is it now? What is it now?”
YELLEN: “3.7. So normally you wouldn’t expect, just because you had a rapid recovery, for inflation to rise very much, if at all. But it turned out the pandemic had very special impacts on the economy. Remember, everybody stopped spending on services. They were in their homes for a year or more. They wanted to buy grills and office furniture. They were working from home. They suddenly started splurging on goods, buying technology.”