Stephen Lendman

Once a Wall Street banker, always one. Rare exceptions prove the rule. Goldman Sachs alum Steven Mnunchin is Trump’s choice for Treasury.

After 17 years at GS, he became OneWest Bank Group chairman and CEO, an enterprise connected to George Soros.

He founded motion picture production and financing company RatPac-Dune Entertainment after serving as Trump’s presidential campaign finance chair. He’s chairman and CEO of hedge fund Dune Capital Management.

Like GW Bush, his father, grandfather and John Kerry, he belonged to Yale University’s secretive Skull and Bones.

Other noted alumni include Supreme Court chief justices, CIA officials, cabinet members, congressmen, senators, and business leaders, among other prominent members of society.

It’s much more than a club, exerting enormous national and global influence. Fifteen members are chosen annually. It may be America’s most elite network. Inductees are considered potential business, government, legal and other type future leaders.

Notable alumni families include Bush, Bundy, Harriman, Lord, Phelps, Rockefeller, Carnegie, Ford, Taft, and Whitney, among others.

One observer earlier called bonesmen “an international mafia - unregulated and all but unknown,” its agenda New World Order dominance. Members are sworn to silence. Rare exceptions deviate.

All too often Wall Street figures are chosen to run Treasury. Paul Craig Roberts is my preferred choice, or someone of his stature. My opinion wasn’t sought.

Critics derisively call Goldman Sachs “Government Sachs,” among other pejoratives, Mnuchin its third alum since Robert Rubin and Hank Paulson to head Treasury.

Alum William Dudley is New York Fed president, the leading one among 12 Fed districts nationwide - owned and controlled by Wall Street, not Washington, as commonly believed.

Bank of England Governor Mark Carney was a Goldman managing director. ECB president Mario Draghi was vice chair of its international operations.

Trump’s chief strategist and senior advisor Stephen Bannon is a former Goldman investment banker. Commenting on Mnuchin’s appointment, the Wall Street Journal called it “at odds with Mr. Trump’s message that economic and political elites have left the country damaged.”

Asked about his appointment Tuesday evening, Mnuchin demurred, saying “I’ll talk about it tomorrow.”

“The Treasury secretary is the chief navigator of the nation’s economy, overseeing the collection of taxes, the imposition of foreign sanctions, managing the public debt and serving as the chief connection between the administration and the financial markets and the business community,” The Wall Street Journal explained, adding:

“When Mr. Trump is sworn in Jan. 20, the success of his presidency will rest as much in Mr. Mnuchin’s hands as those of any other presidential appointee.”

Secretaries of State and Defense have yet to be named, the other two key administration positions.

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Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.

His new book as editor and contributor is titled "Flashpoint in Ukraine: How the US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III."

http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html

Visit his blog site at http://www.sjlendman.blogspot.com.

Listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network.
http://prn.fm/show/progressive-radio-news-hour/