Yellen: people generally are better off despite price increases

During a House Ways and Means Committee hearing, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen disagreed with Larry Summers, her predecessor, who suggested that the Federal Reserve might need to raise interest rates due to concerns about inflation.

Yellen criticized Summers, calling him "a person who's been wrong in the past," citing his previous statement that it would take a recession to bring inflation down, which Yellen described as a "serious misjudgment."

Summers, a former Treasury secretary with close ties to the White House, expressed his concerns about inflation not reaching target levels and cautioned against rate cuts, suggesting that the Fed should be cautious about lowering rates and might need to raise them instead.

Yellen, however, expressed confidence that inflation would continue to decrease and that the U.S. could reduce price increases without negatively impacting the job market. She noted that inflation had already substantially decreased from its peak.

When asked about Summers' comments, Yellen declined to comment on appropriate monetary policy, stating that it was up to the Fed, not her, to determine. She did express optimism that housing costs, a significant factor in inflation, would decrease in the coming year, noting that rental prices had stabilized or even declined in some cases.