Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Tuesday warned of an “economic and financial catastrophe” that would decimate jobs and make loans more expensive for years to come if Congress fails to raise the debt ceiling and the government defaults on its obligations.
Yellen issued the warning in prepared remarks for the 51st annual Sacramento Metro Chamber’s annual Capitol-to-Capitol program, a meeting with California business executives.
The Treasury Secretary touched on the U.S. economic recovery from the lows of the pandemic recession, while acknowledging that inflation remains an ongoing problem.
“We still face near-term challenges. Our administration’s top economic priority is to tackle inflation while protecting the economic gains of the past two years,” she said, noting that inflation remains elevated, although it has come down several percentage points from the summer peak….