Janet Yellen is one of the most impressive, most accomplished people in the world. She played a major role in preventing the global financial crisis from turning into a second Great Depression, heading off a lot of suffering. People pay her to speak at conferences. This is fine. https://twitter.com/politico/status/1344886212327317506

Big speaking fees are corporations/conferences trying to buy clout, not secret agreements for speakers to provide a favor in the future.
For speakers it's: "All I have to do is show up, say some words of my own choosing, and you hand me a giant check? OK." https://twitter.com/josemarquez/status/1345037779860799488

How corporations think: "We got Yellen! That's a Big Name. She ran the Fed! People will think we're important."
How they don't: "We got Yellen! Now she owes us. We'll ask for a favor and, despite having proved she can make money easily, she'll be so in thrall to us she'll do it."

Seems the defense of attacks on Yellen's speaking fees is a bad analogy to doctors wined and dined by pharma reps, as if accepting gifts while in your current job is the same as getting paid for services before your current job.
This weak defense suggests there isn't a good one.

Yes. A silly aspect of attacking Yellen is an assumption that making money after leaving must mean that she decided Fed policy by "how can I make bank in 8 years?" rather than by "what does my decades of education and experience say will help the economy?" https://twitter.com/50megatonFbomb/status/1345078677151866880

Yellen went to Brown and then got a PhD in economics from Yale. She could've easy worked in finance, but instead did academia and public service.
The assumption that Yellen prioritized making future money for herself when doing macroeconomic policy doesn't fit her record at all.

Confused about attacks on Yellen's speeches? It's mostly left-wing opposition to capitalism, not Yellen's abilities or policies per se.
If you think the job of Treasury Sec is "violence towards the corporate class" and the Secretary should refuse to talk to CEOs, she's not that.