The US economist Janet Yellen prepares meticulously for tasks – be it as head of the central bank or as finance minister. But this thoroughness comes at a price.
US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is known for preparing very carefully. This apparently applies to all aspects of her life – including the first time she smoked cannabis at a party as a student. However, she overprepared for this, said the 77-year-old in a humorous interview with the radio network NPR.
“I had never smoked anything in my life,” Yellen said, and she wondered how she could prepare for the experience. Her solution: She bought a pack of cigarettes and tried to see if she could inhale. “The whole week I was preparing for this party, I smoked cigarettes,” Yellen said. “I went to the party, smoked a few joints – and never did that again.” But through the supposed training she got used to nicotine.
Just a few weeks later, she was smoking up to three packs a day, according to Yellen, who was studying at the elite Yale University at the time. It took years to stop smoking.
Candy Crush expert
The former head of the central bank also described an addiction that she has not yet gotten rid of: the smartphone game Candy Crush, which is played by millions of commuters. In the game, which has increasingly difficult levels, sweets have to be sorted and put away.
It all started with a Blackberry device. “There was a game called Brick Breaker, and I had never used my phone to play it, but I got addicted to Brick Breaker on my Blackberry,” she said. A biographer who wrote a book about Yellen suggested she try Candy Crush Saga. She replied indignantly: “Candy Crush? I don’t play a game like Candy Crush. I play Brick Breaker!” A year later things look completely different. “This morning I reached level 6180,” she said to applause from the audience.
In view of the upcoming election campaign, the US government is trying to present economic development in the USA as a success and is increasingly using Yellen to do this. “The [Rekord]-Inflation – did YOU take care of that?” the interviewer joked. “Not my fault!” replied Yellen. “That’s the central bank’s job.”