Gary Cohn for Head of National Economic Council

After Headhunting Steve Mnuchin for Secretary of Treasury, Trump might have his eyes on no other than the COO and 2nd man of Goldman, Gary Cohn for Head of National Economic Council.

Cohn has been long rumored to lead Goldman after the departure of its current CEO, Lloyd Blankfein, which has given no hint so far of any plans to depart anytime soon. Cohn was also rumored to have grown impatient waiting for any evolution and this move might sound reasonable to him, as any move to government posts has its special financial incentives as well.

Goldman is starting to have a very strong record for placing its executives in top government posts, let's take Henry Paulson or Mario Draghi, the Head of ECB for example.

Im guessing that soon, we would see monkeys posting things like:
Q&A: Target School -> IB Analyst -> Top 15 MBA -> MD BB -> Secretary of Treasury' hahaha

jokes aside, thoughts on these placements?

55 Comments
 

Butt Hurt is real. Drain the Swamp is in reference to lobbyists. Who exactly is Trump supposed to nominate for these roles?

I'm sure you'd be so supportive if Trump picked Joe the Plumber to run State or Treasury.

 

not tryna argue with you bro (notice I haven't responded to your Pro-Russia drivel), don't really give a fuck either way. I'm sure that the people who voted for him due to populism are overjoyed that his economic policy will be run by Goldman Sachs bankers and his foreign policy will be overseen by the CEO of Exxon-Mobil, possibly the most globalist company in the world.

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I don't really know anything about this guy and I'm sure he's brilliant, but come on--there are brilliant men and women all over the nation who could serve in these posts (heck, there are brilliant non-Goldman people in NYC if that's Trump's thing). How in the world does Goldman Sachs have such disproportionate influence in both Dem and GOP administrations? I mean, Goldman Sachs went out of its way to back Hillary Clinton, for goodness sake. I thought for once that corrupt financial institution would find itself on the outs. Guess not.

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My guess it that it is actually far more simple than we think... If you had a friend who was definitely qualified for a job in your company, and you knew they may be looking for something, wouldn't you recommend them?

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"realjackryan"

Man Virginia, I usually really see your posts as very fair-minded. Maybe it's just wishful thinking but the banks own the parties, not the other way around.

Besides, there are a few arguments (although not great ones) for the role of international investment banking partnering with US government... Worked well during and after WWII anyway.

Again, I'm not disputing the validity of having bankers involved in the federal government, but the revolving door between government and Goldman Sachs is conspicuous, to put it kindly.

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I agree that on the surface these appointments don't look great (bankers and CEOs). However, who is he supposed to nominate? In my mind the only people qualified for these posts are lifelong politicians or extremely successful business leaders. There are some politicians that I'd be ok with taking these positions, but by and large I am against rewarding lifelong politicians with these jobs. By process of elimination and meeting requisite experience, I'd be nominating a lot of business leaders as well.

I dont pretend to know much about him, but I may have found someone other than Tillerson if I were Trump, if only for perception.

twitter: @CorpFin_Guy
 

I would have loved for Trump to nominate the BB&T head. Although his austrian economic beliefs wouldn't have caused the market to go nuts.

And I think Trump was looking at a lot of well qualified people.

End of the day, if he can roll back some of the Dodd Frank legislation and make it easier for smaller/mid-sized banks to exist, I think this will be a benefit to main street as well as wall street.

GS is parasitic though, I agree. But I suppose you could make the same argument for all the TBTF banks. And with the recent press, which big banker was going to really compete for this role? BB&T CEO is too radical. Wells Fargo fucked itself with its recent bad press. Dimon said he didn't want the role. So now you have GS, MS, BAML and maybe some others.

 

Yeah, I dont know anything about Gary Cohn, so I'm certainly not cheerleading this appointment. However, for Secretary of Treasury specifically, it almost has to be someone from Financial Services. Not saying it should be another person from GS, but 2nd in Charge of a large financial institution seems to fit the bill.

twitter: @CorpFin_Guy
 
Best Response

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_Cohn_(investment_banker)

Very interesting background. While a GS alumnus, he didn't take the typical Ivy League path. American University, deep Ohio roots (I am sure the swing state will love the love).

"Cohn started his career at the U.S. Steel home products division in Cleveland, Ohio.7 After a few months, he left U.S. Steel and started his career as an options dealer in the New York Mercantile Exchange.7 He lied to the hiring manager of the options department about his experience in options trading when he had none. He taught himself the basics of options by reading about it in the days between meeting the hiring manager and joining the New York Mercantile Exchange."

Love this gem:

"Critics of Cohn attribute to him an arrogant, aggressive, abrasive and risk-prone work style. They see his "6-foot 3-inch & 220lbs" as intimidating, as he might "sometimes hike up one leg, plant his foot on a trader's desk, his thigh close to the employee's face and ask how markets were doing"

This should be a big message to the markets that we are open for business. Trump rally continues!

 

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