Janet Yellen gets low marks from most financial experts for her term as Treasury Secretary. The Treasury Secretary's primary role is managing U.S. debt issuance, determining the mix of loan terms and debt structures to minimize interest costs. During the pandemic, interest rates were very low—below 1 percent in most instances—and instead of locking in those low rates for 10 or 30 years, she chose to mostly issue debt in short maturities, usually two years and under.
When interest rates inevitably rose in 2022, the U.S. government was forced to refinance at significantly higher rates, which cost taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars. It was an error of judgment that most of us cannot even comprehend—if interest rates are close to zero, you lock them in for as long as possible. It's no different than refinancing your mortgage at 2.5 percent, as millions of homeowners did during that time period. It's common sense.
