JACKSON HOLE, Wyo. — Bette Midler wouldn’t normally be expected to trumpet her opinion on who should be the next chairman of the Federal Reserve.
This time is different.
A battle over what’s arguably the world’s most powerful economic post has turned into an unusually public struggle over two renowned economists — Fed Vice Chairwoman Janet Yellen and former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers.
Chairman Ben Bernanke is expected to step down when his second term ends in January, and the contest to succeed him is sure to spark chatter at this week’s annual meeting of central bankers in Jackson Hole, Wyo. While the principals have kept mum, their warring camps have waged a battle that has riled Congress, spawned opinion columns and sparked commentary from notables like the Divine Miss M.
Midler recalled that before the 2008 financial crisis, Summers resisted efforts to regulate the kinds of risky investments that helped ignite the crisis.
Sample Midler tweet: “HUH. The architect of bank deregulation, which turned straight-laced banks into casinos and bankers into pimps, may be next Head Fed: Summers.”
There’s also been a whisper campaign suggesting that Yellen might lack the gravitas to be chairman, a job requiring enormous skills of persuasion. Yellen’s supporters regard such assertions as a sexist attack.
The selection of a chairman has long been a matter handled privately by a president and his most senior advisers.
“Most presidents strive for a smooth, quiet transition that doesn’t put markets on edge,” said David Jones, an economist and author of several books on the Fed.
