By Mike Lofgren:
The fact that America's premier corporate raider, Carl Icahn, will advise Trump on financial regulation (and may be appointed SEC chairman), and that his pick for Treasury Secretary, Steve Mnuchin, was a Goldman executive for 16 years, does not inspire confidence that their management of the economy will be any different from that of their predecessors before the 2008 crash.
Mnuchin is only one of several Goldman alumni destined for top positions in the Trump administration. Goldman president Gary Cohn has been tapped to head the National Economic Council. Hedge fund manager and former Goldman executive Anthony Scaramucci is a vocal Trump media surrogate and is widely expected to receive a government position. (Responding to a question by CNN about the alleged demonization of bankers, Scaramucci responded, "I think the cabal against the bankers is over," neatly inverting the fact that the derogatory term "cabal" has normally been associated with bankers, rather than their critics).
The pseudo-populist Stephen Bannon, Trump's chief of strategy, is also a Goldman spawn. It is hardly surprising that Goldman Sachs's stock has risen 30 percent since November. Does anyone seriously think "this time will be different" compared to the Bush debacle?
The Full Story (January 2017)
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