Lunchtime Must Read: Jonathan Chait: Yellen Mentions Inequality; Right Scandalized

…a moderate, wrote that Yellen is now ‘in danger of becoming a partisan hack.’… The parties don’t merely disagree about the merits of inequality, they disagree about the merits of even acknowledging it…. Remember Mitt Romney conceding that inequality should only be discussed in ‘quiet rooms’?… Merely by stating facts about inequality in public, even without taking a stand on it, Yellen has placed herself on one side of a partisan divide. It’s like saying ‘Jehovah.’

What Strain does not mention is that Yellen is hardly alone among Federal Reserve chairs…. Hardly a week went by without Greenspan interjecting himself into the political debate. And Greenspan, a former follower of Ayn Rand with staunchly conservative views, had none of Yellen’s careful reserve…. Is the new rule here that, starting now, the Federal Reserve chair has to stay completely out of partisan politics? Or is the rule that they need to stay out of politics unless they’re conservative?