With Larry Summers decision to withdrawal his name from consideration to be the next Chairman of the Federal Reserve, most Fed prognosticators — perhaps the world’s worst job — expect President Obama to nominate Vice Chairwoman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System Janet Yellen for the post. But if Twitteratti have their way, the nominee will be someone entirely different.
In the minutes and hours after the Summers news broke, Americans took to Twitter to post their ridiculous suggestions for Fed chair.
Some tweeters suggested fictional — or at least semi-fictional — characters:
I am [ ] this close to nominating Scrooge McDuck for Fed chair.
— Peppermint Belle (@PeppermintBelle) September 15, 2013
Gordon Gekko for Fed Chair — David Shorr (@David_Shorr) September 15, 2013
Carlos Danger for Fed chair. — Rob Blackwell (@ABWashBureau) September 16, 2013
One tweeter suggested America’s most unbearable columnist:
@NYTimeskrugman for Fed Board chair.
— Jason Smith (@jfredricsmith) September 15, 2013
There seemed to be a great demand for Ke$ha to be nominated, primarily because she has a dollars sign in her name:
Ke$ha for Fed reserve chair. AmIRite? — Dani 2.0 (@DaniParadis) September 16, 2013
Even Woody Allen’s son seconded the idea of Ke$sha being nominated:
I don’t want to say Ke$ha is the only candidate Obama should consider for Fed chair but she does have a dollar sign right there in her name. — Ronan Farrow (@RonanFarrow) September 15, 2013
For the next month, every major news announcement will be accompanied by at least one terribly unfunny Miley Cyrus joke:
Breaking: With Larry Summers out of the running, Obama will name Miley Cyrus Fed Chair. She’ll twerk not taper. Markets will soar on news. — Mike Mierau (@mittenmike) September 16, 2013
In fairness to the Miley Cyrus jokester, at least he didn’t make an even staler Sydney Leathers joke:
Or Sydney Leathers. Either one. RT @ABWashBureau: Carlos Danger for Fed chair. — Daniel Strauss (@DanielStrauss4) September 16, 2013
The range of ridiculous suggestions for Fed chair really ran the gamut:
John Corzine for Fed chair — Blue Shift Blog (@BlueShiftBlog) September 16, 2013
I’m nominating Steven Colbert for fed chair. — MB (@BabsonM) September 15, 2013
Peyton Manning for Fed Chair. — sjglass (@UrquhartMP) September 15, 2013
Sarah Palin for Fed Chair #YOLO — John Tabin (@johntabin) September 15, 2013
But there was at least one not-so-ridiculous suggestion:
Economist I’ve Never Heard of for Fed.
— Josh Greenman (@joshgreenman) September 15, 2013
Then again, I guess it would depend on the ideology of the obscure economist, right?
Though the preponderance of Twitter suggestions were quite obviously absurd, it is unclear whether President Obama’s actual nominee will be any less so.