Janet Yellen is (probably) tripping

Janet Yellen
Janet Yellen
Reuters
During a visit to Beijing last month, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen reportedly ate a magic mushroom-based dish known as Jian shou qing. In English, that’s “see hand blue,” a name probably meant to warn those who would consume it that this particular mushroom is hallucinogenic. “I was not aware that these mushrooms had hallucinogenic properties. I learned that later,” Yellen said, and your GZERO team is willing to suspend its disbelief. And they’re supposedly harmless when fully cooked.

But we do have questions. Will the mushrooms Yellen consumed change her US recession forecast? Do these mushrooms allow people to see the data on China’s youth unemployment rate, which has abruptly become invisible to the rest of us? And finally, in the interest of journalistic due diligence, where can we get some of these mushrooms?

More from GZERO Media

Supporters greet the Democratic lawmakers who left the state to deny Republicans quorum, as they return to the House, as the attempt to redraw the state's 38 congressional districts continues, at the Texas State Capitol, in Austin, Texas, U.S. August 18, 2025.
REUTERS/Nuri Vallbona

Today, Texas’s legislature could hand Republicans five new congressional seats – and set off a red hot redistricting battle ahead of the 2026 midterms.

Five years ago, Microsoft set bold 2030 sustainability goals: to become carbon negative, water positive, and zero waste—all while protecting ecosystems. That commitment remains—but the world has changed, technology has evolved, and the urgency of the climate crisis has only grown. This summer, Microsoft launched the 2025 Environmental Sustainability Report, offering a comprehensive look at the journey so far, and how Microsoft plans to accelerate progress. You can read the report here.

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian shake hands as they meet with the media to make a joint statement following their talks in Yerevan, Armenia, August 19, 2025.
Hayk Baghdasaryan/Photolure via REUTERS

$3 billion: Armenia and Iran pledged to triple bilateral trade to $3 billion this week, just days after Yerevan inked a US-brokered peace deal with Azerbaijan.

An Indian paramilitary soldier guards a road during India's 79th Independence Day celebrations in Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, on August 15, 2025. Prime Minister Narendra Modi issues a stern warning to Pakistan, stating that India will not tolerate nuclear blackmail anymore and will give a befitting reply to the enemy. He asserts that India has now set a ''new normal'' of not differentiating between terrorists and those who nurture terrorism.
Photo by Firdous Nazir/NurPhoto

For four days in May, two nuclear rivals stood at the brink of a potentially catastrophic escalation, one that could impact a fifth of the world’s population.