> this is not a conflict of interest I did not unilaterally declare that there is one. I said enough of a situation exists to warrant asking the question. You

> this is not a conflict of interest I did not unilaterally declare that there is one. I said enough of a situation exists to warrant asking the question. You called it a straw man, I said it looks vaguely conflicting enough to be an appropriate question. > and implying that it is a conflict of interest is NOT the press sec's job This is what I said might've helped: "We take conflicts of interest, undue influence, and affiliation seriously. You will have an answer as soon as POTUS is properly briefed as to your readers concerns." I don't really see how this implies that there is one. In fact, it feels like pretty lukewarm corporate PR to me that admits to nothing and commits to very little. I thought I was being pretty fair here. > No, but it is telling no other media outlet really thought the response was odd. Not really, and I'd encourage you not to rely on this logic. I'm not a Republican or a Democrat or really anything in between. Maybe independent sums me up? Who knows. Regardless, while this vantage point routinely gets me whalloped over the head with mainstay arguments and talking points, it's shown me how binary the news cycles can be. In reality, there's little bits of truth to most stuff, which is why I don't fully embrace these kinds of claims but I also most certainly don't fully deny them either. Instead, I let bureaucracy do what it does best: process stuff; which is why I think it's a valid question to ask to a massive bureaucracy. > Is the practice shady? Perhaps. > If you want to rail against this, be my guest as you and I would be in furious agreement, however.... > Is Yellen doing anything wrong by working on the talk circuit? No. Personally, I don't care if you want to go make money talking about your time in government. Usually it's when you try to represent yourself as not-a-lobbyist in the private sector or return to politics after making lots of friends in the private sector off the back of your previous political gig. I can't tell you why, it just feels like there's a large amount of room for bad things to happen. Sounds like we'd probably agree.