LARRY KUDLOW: Janet Yellen’s bowing and scraping is the biggest disgrace of all

The sight of Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen bowing and scraping before Chinese officials was just an awful sight. She was acting like some flatfooted gawking tourist, not one of the most important cabinet officials in the U.S. government.  

It’s another example of Ms. Yellen looking very much like she’s in over her head in her position at Treasury. I don’t mean to be personal here, I know Ms. Yellen, but as an American citizen, and also as someone who served in the government and met many top Chinese officials on many occasions in both Beijing and Washington, D.C., including President Xi, scraping and bowing is just appalling.  

This kind of face-to-face diplomacy is not all that hard.  Know what you do? You walk up to them, stick your hand out and shake their hand. Full stop. Representing America.  

The irony here is that Yellen is probably the favorite American Cabinet official among the Chinese because she’s the softest on China. So, she could have acted and looked tough – but instead she went into her bowing and scraping routine. Nothing could be worse.   

YELLEN SAYS ‘SIGNIFICANT DISAGREEMENTS’ REMAIN IN US-CHINA RELATIONSHIP, BUT SEES ‘PROGRESS’ 

As far as substance is concerned, apparently there wasn’t any. Some blathering about opening lines of communication over disagreements, which has no meaning whatsoever to the Chinese or anyone else and, by the way, Janet Yellen – who is the chief economic and financial officer of the U.S. government – apparently never mentioned to the Chinese about their breaking the economic and energy sanctions over Ukraine.  

Remember those sanctions? First, they were supposed to stop the war. Then, stop Russia.  They’ve done neither and one key reason is — wait for it, hang on — China.   

China buying oil hand over fist from Russia. China providing plenty of loans and credits to Russia, and, oh, by the way, let’s not forget other sources of military assistance from China to help Vladimir Putin wage war.   

I don’t think Yellen mentioned a single word about this. Why?  Because she doesn’t want to rock the boat, does she? I think she is afraid of her own shadow, isn’t she? Or, the Bidens, as usual, are just intimidated by foreign dictators around the globe.   

Ms. Yellen’s bowing and scraping is symbolic of the Bidens’ foreign policy failures, but there’s another embarrassment for Janet Yellen. Her Treasury Department has experienced explosive bureaucratic bloat with an incredibly wasteful woke equity expansion.  Hat tip to Mary Kay Linge of the New York Post for investigating this.  A new phalanx of wasteful woke executives, each earning roughly $200,000 per year in order to create an equity hub that will coordinate efforts in all of Treasury’s work, including 17 separate EEO directors, one for each Treasury Bureau, all with hefty salaries.   

Literally, a whole deep state of equity officers all pushing diversity, equity, and inclusion, all pushing equal outcomes in economic life, all bloating the Treasury Department budget.   

To say Janet Yellen has been a big disappointment with her DEI and her existential climate risk is an understatement, but embarrassing the entire citizenry of the U.S.A. with bowing and scraping in full public view is the biggest disgrace of all.  

This article is adapted from Larry Kudlow’s opening commentary on the July 10, 2023, edition of “Kudlow.”