Crypto News: Janet Yellen, food influencer

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We already know Janet Yellen's ideal lunch date: the late, legendary English economist John Maynard Keynes. And based on her custom as Treasury secretary, we can guess the venue would be a local pub in Keynes' hometown, Cambridge.

Serving as overseer of the world's largest economy involves a lot of travel, both domestic and international, and Yellen, 77, has taken care to sample authentic cuisine in the countless meals she's had on the road over her three-plus years in the job. Making a call on dining options perhaps offers some light distraction as she battles to sell President Joe Biden's economic program to voters at home and touts it to counterparts abroad.

That's not to say the former Federal Reserve chair and White House chief economist makes those decisions lightly. During a visit to North Carolina last November, Yellen opted to do some of her own research after a scheduled lunch with the state's governor, Roy Cooper, was canceled. Finding that the venue chosen by Cooper's staff didn't appear as authentic as it might have, the US Treasury chief found an alternative: Ray's Country Smokehouse-Grill in Gastonia, a city of about 80,000 in the south-central part of the state. Ray's is very much not a franchisee of a national chain. Located in a small single-story commercial property, it advertises old-school "pit-cooked" barbecue.

Yellen with staff from Ray's Country Smokehouse-Grill in Gastonia, North Carolina. Photographer: Christopher Condon/Bloomberg

Engaging with people at home and around the world is a key part of job, Yellen says. "I believe one of the best ways to do that is through food and local restaurants," she told Bloomberg.

"From chatting with the owners of a beloved diner in Pittsburgh, to trying cheese curds in Milwaukee, to popping into a popular izakaya with my team in Tokyo, I've thoroughly enjoyed the ability to get to know people in these informal settings and taste local favorites," Yellen said.

Of course, her schedule doesn't always allow for leisurely sit-downs. In July 2021, Yellen's plane stayed on the tarmac in Venice until a stack of pizzas was brought aboard, ensuring the entourage didn't depart without sampling one of the most iconic of Italy's dishes.

Taquería Gabriel, which offers classic Mexican items, won Yellen's custom during a Mexico City visit in November. On her first trip to China as Treasury secretary, staff organized an outing to a restaurant featuring cuisine from the southwestern province of Yunnan, which included a dish of mushrooms that can have "hallucinogenic properties" if not cooked properly, Yellen said in a CNN interview. (She emphasized that she was sure the dish was indeed properly prepared.)

For more examples and photos of Yellen's lunch spots, including a California favorite, see Chris Anstey's story, Yellen's Road Trips Have a Theme: Think Global, Eat Local

Workers at Milwaukee's Master Lock Co. factory stood to make $100,000 or more a year just a decade ago as they helped churn out the padlocks that secure America's school lockers and backyard sheds.

But now the plant signals a soft spot in President Joe Biden's economic pitch for reelection. That's because last week, Master Lock shuttered the 85-year-old facility for good, shifting production to Mexico, China and North Carolina and erasing hundreds of union jobs in a predominantly Black neighborhood.

At the core of Biden's first-term agenda has been a drive to bring middle-class factory jobs home and provide government incentives to reshore strategic industries such as semiconductors. He's had some success. Since the 2020 pandemic recession, the US economy has regained all the factory jobs it lost—the first time in almost 50 years such a recovery has happened. Some 146,000 more people work in US manufacturing than five years ago, and billions of dollars in subsidies are fueling an investment boom in new factories destined to add even more jobs.

That renaissance, however, has benefited some states more than others. Across Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin—three key election battleground states with proud industrial pasts—there were still 39,000 fewer people employed in factories in February than five years earlier.

It's a deficit that, along with inflation, explains why many voters in those states don't credit Biden for a US economy that, by most metrics, is in historically good shape.

Shawn Donnan, with graphics by Christopher Cannon, tells the story of industrial renaissance, or not, from the perspective of Milwaukee: 39,000 Lost Jobs Undercut Biden's Manufacturing Wins

That's how much the average premium for US homeowners insurance has gone up since the end of 2023. It's expected to hit $2,522 this year, a record high. Premiums in Florida will approach $12,000.

"This is Biden's chance to hear what we have to say, because that's essentially all it is, you know, unfulfilled promises."

Christian Martin

22-year-old college senior from Atlanta

Donald Trump is leading President Joe Biden 47% to 40% with voters 18-34 in swing states. People in that age cohort are more than twice as likely as older voters to cite the economy as their top concern, with student debt, the housing market and cost of living weighing on their finances.

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