re: Trump nominates 5th Goldman Sachs Official

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but if I had I probably would have assumed he'd hire the best financial minds in the country and the best financial minds in the country are usually on Wall St.

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Why are they the best financial minds in the country?

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But since the election, Trump has picked two Goldman executives and two former Goldman executives to serve in top posts. Goldman chief operating officer Gary Cohn is now the director of the White House National Economic Council and has a tremendous amount of influence on a range of issues. Goldman’s global head of impact investing, Dina Powell, is the White House’s senior counselor for economic initiatives, working on both domestic and foreign policy issues.

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I do not think running successful hedge funds is the same as being well versed in domestic economic policy or foreign policy initiatives. Moreover, based on history these people are going to advise deregulation that would benefit the very firms that they worked for and will most likely work for again.

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I understood "draining the swamp" to be more aimed at getting rid of career politicians.

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I won't argue with individual interpretation as we all can interpret that differently. But I'd suspect that when most people view DC as a corrupt cesspool or "swamp" they think about the "revolving door" which is the shuffling of former federal employees into jobs as lobbyists, consultants and strategists as well as placing former lobbyists or influential corporate executives into agencies that would benefit their former and most likely future employer.

This happens with independent regulatory commissions too. It was evident in Obama's FCC, SEC, and FTC appointees and also now with Trump. The term is called "capture" and it happens way too often. Members of these regulatory bodies are chosen from the ranks of the regulated. Then when they are finished working for the government they are recruited back into the same industries that they were once regulating.