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Wall St still rules

PostPosted: Sun Dec 18, 2016 11:05 am
by KEND
So it was out with the old and in with the new, dont bet on it

How Goldman Sachs made it back into Washington's inner circle
The Washington Post
Renae Merle1 Dec 3 2016
NEW YORK — When Gary Cohn, president of Goldman Sachs, walked into Trump Tower earlier this week, it was just one of dozens of meetings President-elect Donald Trump as held with advisers, potential cabinet picks and well wishers over the last few weeks. But on Wall Street, Cohn’s presence in the gold-accented lobby represented something much bigger: One of the world’s most important banks is making its way back into Washington’s inner circle. After years on the sideline, Goldman Sachs, and the rest of the Wall Street elite, is poised to come roaring back.
Trump has already picked several Goldman Sachs alums for several key positions. Steven Mnuchin, a 17-year veteran of the bank, is slated to be the next Treasury Secretary and Steve Bannon, Trump’s chief strategist, worked on mergers and acquisition deals for Goldman Sachs. Hedge fund manager Anthony Scaramucci began his career at the New York bank and has emerged as one of Trump’s closest advisers on his presidential transition. According to Politico, Cohn, a 26-year veteran of the Goldman Sachs, is being considered for a position heading the Office of Management and Budget.
Goldman Sachs’ sometimes controversial relationship with Washington goes back decades. One of its founders, Henry Goldman, advised on the creation of the Federal Reserve. President Franklin D. Roosevelt chose Goldman CEO Sidney Weinberg to serve on the War Production Board during World War II. And more recently, President Bill Clinton named former Goldman co-chairman Robert Rubin to head the Treasury Department. George W. Bush picked Henry Paulson, another Goldman alum for the same job.Each in turn filled the government ranks with so many more former Goldman executives that the bank eventually earned the nickname “Government Sachs.”“The Goldman organization has always been able to make sure they are close to power, they are very good at cultivating and maintaining relationships,” said Christopher Whalen, head of research for Kroll Bond Rating Agency.Trump’s elevation of so many Goldman alums may signal a wider shift in Wall Street’s public standing, which has been battered since the 2008 financial crisis, industry analysts say. Even Trump played to public distrust, releasing a television ad that flashed an image of Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein as the Republican candidate warned of a “global power structure” that was robbing American workers.The public’s resentment towards Goldman Sachs was so deep that Blankfein initially demurred when asked who he would vote for. “I don’t want to help or hurt anybody by giving them my endorsement,” Blankfein, who has previously supported Hillary Clinton, told CNBC.
Wall Street insiders widely expected to be largely left on the sidelines if Hillary Clinton had won the White House. They felt Clinton would have found it difficult to resist pressure by progressives in the Democratic Party that she be tough on Wall Street.