Janet Yellen Was Sure Things Were Bad In 2008 When She Found Out People Were Putting Off Plastic Surgery

While the economy was teetering on the bring of catastrophe in 2008, then-San Francisco Federal Reserve President Janet Yellen warned the rest of the FOMC that citizens in her area were postponing plastic surgery appointments - a sure sign of a struggling economy.

The Federal Reserve has published the transcripts from its 2008 Federal Open Market Committee meetings, and now we get to see what our new Fed chair was thinking during the recession.

Here's Yellen getting some chuckles from the FOMC during the September 2008 meeting:

My contacts report that cutbacks in spending are widespread, especially for discretionary items. For example, East Bay plastic surgeons and dentists note that patients are deferring elective procedures. [Laughter] Reservations are no longer necessary at many high-end restaurants. And the Silicon Valley Country Club, with a $250,000 entrance fee and seven-to-eight-year waiting list, has seen the number of would-be new members shrink to a mere thirteen. [Laughter]

In other meetings, Yellen would warn that the country was near, or beyond, the brink of recession.