Would You Make The Move to Politics After Finance?
I don't know if a lot of you considered it, but would you like to move to politics after a career in finance?
I mean we're all great at office politics by now but would you be interested in playing the big game? Finance is fast-paced, challenging and interesting but it can only keeps you interested for so long because closing a deal is closing a deal if you're in IB and planning sessions tend to look the same after 3 or 4 of them if you're in Corporate Finance.
I feel like starting in politics from scratch is very painful and paying your dues involves a lot of all-nighters. But if you had a (very) good career in Finance and some decent connections you made along the way, maybe you can start in an "experienced" position in a local role and then move up to the big league.
My question to you guys is: would you like to do it and do you feel it would be interesting?
Comments
0% chance for me. I think
0% chance for me. I think the move is more common the other way around...people monetizing their networks.
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God no.
God no.
Here to learn and hopefully pass on some knowledge as well. SB if I helped.
I'd sooner dip my nut sack in
I'd sooner dip my nut sack in a french fryer.
No. Running for office seems
No. Running for office seems like it would be hell on earth. The media and your opponents will go out of their way to destroy your life.
Well, my first reaction would
Well, my first reaction would be to say absolutely not after, as you stated, a very good career in finance I would probably want to trade my working lifestyle for lots of golf, networking functions etc... oh wait, that sounds like a politicians life. I can think of far worse things to have a successful career and then go do a stint in Washington, making half informed decisions on policies that effect hundreds of millions of lives, and if you screw up too much just make sure whoever tries to run against you has more skeletons than you do. Frankly, the lack of accountability is so astounding in politics that it sounds like an awesome place to be for like a term or two. The problem is that like everything else I think it ends up consuming you and you fall in love with the idea of how much power you have and simply lose whoever you were in the process.
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Being in finance and making
Being in finance and making the move to politics will probably give your opponent a good argument to tear you down...
In France with all the bad press finance people get it'd be impossible to fight back.
THANK YOU , THANK YOU GOD
THANK YOU , THANK YOU
GOD BLESS YOU .. AND GOD BLESS THE UNITED STATES!
TOGETHER YOU HAVE SHOWN THE WORLD ... YES WE CAN!
Thomas Ausart: Being in
Being in finance and making the move to politics will probably give your opponent a good argument to tear you down...
In France with all the bad press finance people get it'd be impossible to fight back.
You know, i think that it does for people who are trying to toe a line that they don't necessarily believe or aren't comfortable with themselves and what they have accomplished. I think people would respect, not like, someone who comes out and says here is my record. This is what I did and I'm damn well proud of it, I've accomplished many great things and aided tons of companies, blah blah whatever you want to say. If you own your record and at least appear to believe in it that goes a very long way. Sure, people may still not vote for you but I doubt you'll have attack ads where a Super Pac tries to convince voters that your responsible for the death of someone who had cancer and lost their healthcare because of a Bain buyout. That is just incredible.
The problem is that Finance doesn't do itself any favors because many times they become indignant and defensive instead of accepting that hey, maybe we fucked up a few times but here is what we are going to do to fix it. Instead, they go right back to the well doing the same tricks over and over again. I can think of a hundred ways to defend what finance did and will do in the future, but appearances will override most things. At least LOOK like you give a shit and are trying to restrain yourself. Finance will get way too much credit and too much blame because it is far easier to scapegoat those who benefited the most from dimwit policies that allowed excess financialization of the economy and wanton greed by everyone and their cousin. People don't want to accept that they screwed up and took on more than they could afford in multiple lifetimes, and now when it comes time to pay for it all who do they turn against? The enablers. It makes sense, but then again a 75% tax on high earners doensn't make much sense either.
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Thomas Ausart: Being in
Being in finance and making the move to politics will probably give your opponent a good argument to tear you down...
In France with all the bad press finance people get it'd be impossible to fight back.
Yeah, except that in France, once you're in politics you're off limits. Lapdog press doesn't even begin to describe French political reportage, where "Monsieur President, do you prefer a light vinaigrette on your salad?" is considered a hardball question.
Only if I didn't have to do
Only if I didn't have to do all that boring fundraising. Bloomberg's life seems pretty boss.
"All my life I kept trying to
"All my life I kept trying to go up in society. Where everything higher up was legal. But the higher I go, the crookeder it becomes. Where the hell does it end?" (Michael Corleone, Godfather III)
In Asian countries, especially countries like China, you can't separate business interests with political interests. The only way you can secure your business (if you run a major enterprise in sensitive sectors like TMT or Natural Resources), you need as much help you can get from the government.
I was offered a Congressional Aide position to the speaker of the House in my country. I declined that offer. Maybe in a few years down the road, I will be running for a seat in the parliament.
"I am the hero of the story. I don't need to be saved."
I'd like to go to politics
I'd like to go to politics after. I think we need quality people to run, and I wont need money anymore...
If I was to have a successful
If I was to have a successful career in finance, definitely. But to a certain extent I think it may be better to serve in a state position (governor perhaps), as opposed to federal. Just dont feel like I personally would have the credentials (not having served in the military) that Id feel would be qualified to potentially command troops to go to war. And then, governors like Christie can have very aggressive styles of governing while being conservative in more liberal leaning areas, so there are some very interesting opportunities.
“...all truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.”
- Schopenhauer
I'd like to think that the
I'd like to think that the average WSO user has too much self-respect to go into politics... but I'm sure I'm wrong
GBS
Not a chance. There is no
Not a chance. There is no autonomy left in politics. In finance, your goals are quantifiable, and you can be hugely successful based solely off your own abilities. Of course networking makes things easier, but at least the possibility of hitting that huge highly levered trade with your own capital exists in finance; in politics, being successful essentially entails juggling the highest number of high-powered scrotums possible, massaging each the perfect amount so as to not become too associated with any one scrotum. I could never dupe myself into joining politics under the auspice of promoting cultural change, policy change, etc either--especially as a second career--because it's my personal belief that meaningful change requires far more than 2 or 4 or 6 year terms of this or that policy to enact, and the cost/benefit of all the scrotum juggling wouldn't be worth it. I'm not sure how you could look at our inept Congress and possibly want to participate in all that frivolity and sycophantic behavior.
You want to really make a difference? Get a job with the CBOE or Fed
I was taught that the human brain was the crowning glory of evolution so far, but I think it's a very poor scheme for survival.
As long as the economy is bad
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The person with the money has
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