From Wall St. To Washington: Famous Moments In Revolving Door History

Want to get to Washington? Try going through Wall Street. As a look at any recent presidential administration will show, people move between the two worlds all the time.

Earlier this week, President Obama announced that budget director Jack Lew would be taking over as his chief of staff, assuming the title from the outgoing Bill Daley. Both men have previously worked at major financial firms -- Lew at Citigroup, Daley at JPMorgan Chase -- meaning that Lew's promotion continues a long-running trend of business executives moving into positions of power in the nation's capital.

Obama's decision to replace one with the other has left critics wondering if the administration can be trusted to regulate the business community when so many White House staffers have spent time on Wall Street. The question is especially pressing today, as Americans everywhere continue to grapple with the effects of a financial crisis that might not have unfolded in such disastrous fashion if the government had kept a closer eye on big banks.

In spite of the potential for conflicts of interest, crossover between the world of finance and the world of politics is nothing new. Even before Obama teamed up with onetime investment banker Rahm Emanuel, George W. Bush entrusted Henry Paulson, a 22-year veteran of Goldman Sachs, with the keys to the Treasury. And as seen with Peter Orszag and Robert Rubin, the migrations happen in both directions, with almost as many D.C. insiders leaving for a position in finance as vice versa.

Here are some of the most notable examples of Wall Street players who went to Washington, or the other way around:

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Comments

[AZreb]

09:58 AM on 01/12/2012

What? Geithner not on the list?

[David Fiderer]

09:46 AM on 01/12/2012

That's a rather incomplete list. Take, for example, the Goldman Sachs/Washington revolving door. By my reckoning, the the most important famous moments would be:

1. Hank Paulson's surreptitious appointment of ex-Goldman "deputies" to displace Treasury officials to shape the response to the financial crisis. They include:
Kendrick Wilson, Edward Forst, Dan Jester, Steve Shafron, Neel Kashkari.
(See also http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-fiderer/how-paulsons-people-collu_b_435549.html)

2. Mitch Daniels, (now Indiana Governor) Director of the OMB under GW Bush and architect of the Bush tax cuts.

3. Joshua Bolton, GW Bush's Chief of Staff

3. Robert Zoellick, one of the advocates of the Iraq war, Deputy Secretary of State under Condi Rice, now head of The World Bank.

4. Mark Sanford, former congressman and then Governor of South Carolina.

[Joseph Veverka]

08:55 AM on 01/12/2012

Obama's blind side is the people he has around him. He may think their on his side but greedy people have their own agenda. Bad advice from indifferent people is what has slowed the economic recovery. Do you think Obama came up with the Solandra Solar deal by his self...? No, someone pushed the deal under his nose and said you got to get on this one its going to be great. Hope MR. Lew has a better self image than the last two guys. He will be write his own history and ours every day,

[AZreb]

10:00 AM on 01/12/2012

Bad judgemnt - bad choices - just look at the economic advisor, the "jobs czar" Immelt of GE - bragging about jobs created - one little problem - those jobs are in CHINA, where GE is expanding!

[Kye154]

07:47 AM on 01/12/2012

Obama must have allot of political debts to pay off to have brought on board old baggage like Bill Daley, Jack Lew, Timothy Geithner, and Ben Bernanke in top political posts managing this country's finances, some of which have strong Republican ties. Also, I think it was appalling to see that Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, JP Morgan Chase, and Stanley Morgan are among the top 30 contributors in the Democratic party. See: http://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/list.php?order=A . Democrats are as corrupt as Republicans, when it comes to money.

[NMFinVA]

06:27 AM on 01/12/2012

And thus lies the rub of it all. As a Democrat, I have no idea WHO to trust anymore. It seems we're pretty much doomed to more of the same, from both sides.

[K August]

06:29 AM on 01/12/2012

It's been like this for probably a century or more...... we seriously need some changes made but where to start?
Perhaps supporting the efforts to get money out of politics and to end lobbying (legal bribery)
would be a good start?

[NMFinVA]

06:41 AM on 01/12/2012

Term limits, moratorium on all elected/appointed/bureaucrats from leaving government to go work for the same businesses/organizations they were supposed to be regulating, end of virtually 100% pension plan for elected officials (who gets THAT in the private sector), the list is endless. And NONE of it will get passed by the same people who get all of these goodies now. Occupy Wall Street? We need to Occupy Congress!

[monoloco]

08:50 PM on 02/18/2012

Vote Ron Paul, I'm pretty sure you won't have to worry about him appointing Wall Street shills.

[atomic]

01:47 AM on 01/12/2012

This men are all criminals. Criminals of in the highest order.

[davholb]

11:23 PM on 01/11/2012

The "revolving door" is only part of the sad feature of these activities. Another significant incentive is the "tax abatement" recieved by these individuals. When leaving their positions in the private sector to provide service to the public "government" sector, their previous compensation (salary, stock options etc) is exempt from taxation as a "perk" to accept a postion with the government. With the 8 individuals listed in this article, the "tax forgiveness" is a figure that would be "unbelievable". Maybe that is why they swing by and work for the US Government for a couple of years and then go back to the "private sector", after they have been instrumental in creating legislation to further their own and associates personal agendas. Ya Think?

[WakeUpinthisCentury]

11:05 PM on 01/11/2012

I am amazed that there is not more commentary on this story. But since all the profiles here are about the Democrat Administrations, but two, I guess all the Bush bangers can do is mumble something about Paulsen and Bush being in office when the inevitable $h-t hit the fan. I hope people will actually read the profiles of each and come to the proper conclusion that the Ivy League club, Democrat and Republican, has done nothing more than grease the skids for themselves to get rich through manipulation of government oversight, taking advantage of Washington insider trading rules for themselves that would land the rest of us in prison, then rotating back in on occasion to tweak the system or make sure new rules can be overcome. Term limits and an absolute no lobbying restriction for 5 years from your last day in a government position is the only way to keep these guys from manipulating the system in their favor. Somehow, someway, we have to get back to publicly financed elections again.

[metoo123]

12:28 AM on 01/12/2012

Good post! I don't know that the Business Section gets that many eyes, unless something is listed on the front page.

[K August]

06:24 AM on 01/12/2012

It doesn't matter who controls the WH......people like the ones above have been around for decades......if not a century or more and it's those folks that caused a lot of our problems....

We as a people are scr*wed..... unless we figure out how to keep them out.

[TheSilverJournal]

07:37 PM on 01/11/2012

The only way to stop the revolving door is to give the government less power. Slash the federal government budget by 90% and whala..no more revolving door. Other than defense..and it is national defense, not nation offense, most of the federal government is not necessary. The states can take care of themselves.

http://TheSilverJournal.com

[IndolentFlourish]

12:44 AM on 01/12/2012

Your suggestion is a bit like burning down the barn to stop the horses from running out. A more constructive solution is possible. One that doesn't involve removing oversight and empowering corporations.

[TheSilverJournal]

06:08 AM on 01/12/2012

Corporations don't need oversight. Fraud laws are already on the books. Consumers can take care of the rest. All that needs to be done is to stop bailing out bad companies that can't profit. The regulators aren't in business to protect you, their in business to protect you from competing against corporations. Look at all of the barriers to entry they put up so small firms never have a chance.

http://TheSilverJournal.com

[K August]

06:27 AM on 01/12/2012

How are the "states" going to protect the people from WS and everyone else who looks to profit on the misery of and at the expense of the citizens?

Small government and no regulations isn't the answer.
TOUGH regulations made by folks who can't be bought is what we need!

[TheSilverJournal]

06:54 AM on 01/12/2012

Nobody needs protection from WS. Just don't buy their products. What we need is protection from government.

Profit is a good thing. Profit is a measure of resources being created. Stop the profit and stop the growth in resources.