Late last night it was revealed that President Obama has summoned Janet Yellen to the White House today… This isn’t a casual lunch. It’s a high-profile, last-minute meeting Obama orchestrated. The last time something like this happened was in 1951, when Harry Truman summoned the entire Federal Reserve Board of Governors to the White House… Number one, Obama does not want the Fed to raise rates. If the Fed remains on its path of interest rate hikes this year, it would give the Republicans the strongest chance at the White House in this fall’s election. That’s because rate hikes would likely lead to recession, and that would bode poorly for the Democrats… By bringing her to the White House, Obama is sending Yellen a highly visible public message. Don’t raise rates. You can consider this meeting more like an implied threat.
… [further,] Obama can pressure Yellen to address something the progressive element of the Democratic base considers a major issue: excessive compensation for banking executives. That would remove one of Bernie Sanders’ major campaign issues…