Yes, they paid for for the speech. You pay a consultant to write software for you, and they deliver software. You pay a public figure for a speech, and they wri

Yes, they paid for for the speech. You pay a consultant to write software for you, and they deliver software. You pay a public figure for a speech, and they write and deliver a speech. I know you may object to how much she is paid. However, there are only 15 former chairs of the US Federal Reserve in history, and at the time she was one of 3 living (and not currently serving) ones, the first woman, and Paul Volcker is 92. Based on some basic searches, a celebrity commencement speech fee may run from $50-100K, and I would argue that Yellen's thoughts are far more valuable. Let's turn this around. What freedoms would you take away from people that wanted to be government appointees? What if she had been an executive of Citadel for a year instead? If she doesn't do speaking fees, Janet Yellen still has a mortgage and bills. Speaking fees are public, have low quid pro quo leverage, and they are disclosed. This seems to be the best possible arrangement to have qualified people in positions of power.