Commenter Cynic reads the bios of the new Treasury appointments and notices a pattern:
What's interesting about the announcement is that the vetting process appears to be driving the selection of new personnel. Wolin is the only one plucked from a private-sector gig, and he was fully vetted and installed in the White House counsel's office two months ago. (He was also working for The Hartford, as opposed to a Wall Street firm, which would have been stickier.) Levey was already in place; if he has issues, we'd know about them. And Brainard comes from a think-tank, and was being vetted for USTR anyway, so the legwork was already done.I'm not saying this is a bad thing. But there's no one in the top tier of Treasury who's ever spent a day working on Wall Street. That's amazing. It seems that although Obama's vetting procedures and conflict-of-interest policies may have been intended to screen out lobbyists and to place his appointees above reproach, their indirect effect is to make private-sector experience more of a hindrance than a help, and consequently, to make academics and civil servants look more attractive.Sometimes, it's the unintended consequences that have the greatest impact.