Uh.... what? I don't get what this article is trying to accomplish. Does the author think that it is some sort of "story" that potential candidates for Presidential appointments are discussed early on, before the election? Is this supposed to be an exposé of some sort? There are more than a thousand people appointed by, and working for, the President of the United States. If some motherfucker is running for office, and doesn't have a list of potential candidates already drawn up, their first six months in office are going to be completely ineffectual. People need to be chosen, plans and proposals need to be drawn up, and the full team needs to hit the ground running on January 20th, if they want to accomplish anything in the all-important "First 100 Days." I mean, shit... The West Wing got this right almost 20 years ago... and this writer thinks that they have come upon some sort of conspiratorial coverup? Huh...?
I get both sides of the argument: On the one hand, it's appalling that a standing exec at a large bank is opining about the president's cabinet. On the other hand, the revolving door between business and government is a known, obvious thing and expecting talented, competent individuals to sit on their hands when they're out of government is naive in the extreme. It plays into the narrative - this is why you want an outsider to shake things up and not be beholden to special interests yadda yadda yadda. But it plays into the narrative - this is why you want seasoned operatives who know who to call and what to do in order to stave off economic collapse. I've come to the conclusion that if you're an idealist, this election is appalling. If you're a cynic, this election is entertaining as fuck.
(Note: This tirade is not at you, specifically, KB. I'm using the "royal You" in here.) I guess... but where are the 1000(plus) people going to come from? The unemployed? Existing government jobs? The previous President's appointees? Where the fuck else are you going to get 1000 people who are highly skilled on the industries and markets and businesses and programs and policies, other than people who do this shit every single day, professionally, for paid salaries? /Begin Analogy: When I worked for NASA, I was a government contractor, working for a company called Sterling Software. They had something like 15,000 contractors working for NASA all over the USA. Every couple of years the contract would come up for bid, and other companies would try to win the NASA business that Sterling Software had. One year, another company did. (Can't recall their name, right now... let's call them NewTech.) Did they have 15,000 employees sitting in a warehouse somewhere in South Dakota, ready to be deployed and run NASA's systems the next day? No. In the morning we got our termination notice from Sterling Software, and then in the afternoon we got our offer letter from NewTech, offering us our existing job, for slightly lower wages. (Because that's how NewTech won the deal, they bid a lower price for providing NASA with the services, and that lower price came directly out of our paychecks.) /End Analogy. So ... people can take the position that "OMG they asked an industry professional to write up a list of people who might be smart enough to take on such a service role for the President of the United States!!! Collusion! Nepotism! Cronyism! Corporate infiltration into the gummint!" Or they could take the position, "thank fucking god they are talking to people who actually know what they are doing, and know the intricacies of the industry they are tasked with representing, instead of getting more Tea Party morons in there, who know jack shit, and spend two years just learning about the industry, before they realize that the problems are really complex and are going to take a ... wait for it ... expert to navigate the byzantine complexities of making proposals and laws." This article is uninformed, useless fear-mongering about something that isn't actually a problem. Want better people proposed for a Presidentially-appointed role? Then get involved with your local party, and work on policies in the industry that interests you. Then maybe you will get selected after 10 years of hard policy work, too. It plays into the narrative - this is why you want an outsider to shake things up and not be beholden to special interests yadda yadda yadda...