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Does anyone find it ironic that the president most accused (well prior to Obama) as having set the socialist wheels rolling had one of the highest level of cabinet officers from the private sector, FDR?
Not really, when you dramatically expand government, as FDR did, you invariably get..... wait for it........ more government, and with that, you get more people in government.
The problem is the revolving door where government officials come from the private sector, get nominated into appointed positions where they do everything they can to help special interests knowing it will lead to... Getting a mega high paying job as a pay off for "playing ball" and doing as they were told while in government. This is just another way special interests capture the regulators who are supposed to be looking out for you and me but instead end up screwing regular people and only looking out for the special interests.
...prior to their appointment to the cabinet. You know what the private business sector is...a real life business, not a government job. Here are the percentages.
T. Roosevelt........38%
Taft...................40%
Wilson .............. 52%
Harding.............. 49%
Coolidge.............48%
Hoover ...............42%
F. Roosevelt....... 50%
Truman.............. 50%
Eisenhower..........57%
Kennedy............ 30%
Johnson.............. 47%
Nixon................ 53%
Ford.................. 42%
Carter............... 32%
Reagan.............. 56%
G H Bush..............51%
Clinton .............. 39%
G W Bush..............55%
Regardless of presidential executive order, to not hire lobbyists, he has nominated or appointed Eric Holder, William Lynn, William Corr, David Hayes, Mark Patterson, Ron Klain, Mona Sutphen, Melody Barnes, Cecilia Munoz, Patrick Gaspard, and Michael Strautmanis. So what is your point?
I checked several articles, only one mentioned actual numbers. It boasted 16 'private sector' jobs. One was a judge, six more were lawyers, three more in academics.
I think the point here, is if you are going to appoint people to head up administrative positions, where they are in charge of multi-billion dollar agencies and thousands of employees, overseeing policy decisions that affect 300 million people, you should have some prior and comparable, private sector executive experience. Being a pure academic, a junior lawyer in a firm for a couple years, or a lobbyist, just does not prepare you for these responsibilities. Otherwise your appointment will appear to be made purely because of your ideological views and your politics.
Not really, when you dramatically expand government, as FDR did, you invariably get..... wait for it........ more government, and with that, you get more people in government.
Of course that doesn't address my comment since I wasn't writing about the expansion of government since under Roosevelt there were only 10 cabinet positions unlike today's 15 Cabinet positions and 7 cabinet level positions, but rather the previous employment experience of those who held those positions.
50% is 50% whether the root number is 10 or 1,000.
By the way, when I look over all those positions I'm kind of curious about just how valuable private sector experience actually would be. I would think that in the cases of the Departments of Commerce, Agriculture, Transportation, Labor and Treasury** such experiences would be quite helpful but for the remaining positions, I really don't see a compelling need.
*Labor is an interesting position, should the private sector experience be with a labor union of a private corporation, too different sides of the same coin. Perhaps an academic is a better fit due to a certain neutrality, after all the first Sec of Labor, Francis Perkins was a public advocate aka, community organizer.
** When it comes to the secretary of Treasury... well there's a mixed bag! Paulson who concocted the Wall St. bailout had plenty of private sector experience, how helpful was that? Now Geithner has only limited private experience but considering how folks are charging him as being Wall Streets' poodle, I'm not feeling the problem.
Timothy F. Geithner- Federal Reserve ---- Private
Hilary Clinton - Legal firm, Congress - private and public
Robert M. Gates - CIA / Army - Public
Eric H. Holder, Jr - Judge , law firm - Private and public
Kenneth L. Salazar - Senate - Public
Thomas J. Vilsack - Governor - Public
Gary F. Locke - Governor - Public
Hilda L. Solis - Public
Kathleen Sebelius - Governor - Public
Shaun L.S. Donovan - NY dept of housing preservation - Private
Ray LaHood - Congress, other - Public and Private
Steven Chu - Bell Labs - Private
Arne Duncan - Chicago Public schools - Private
Eric K. Shinseki - army general- Public
Janet A. Napolitano - Governor, Judge/attorney - Public / Private
Rahm I. Emanuel - campaigner - private but for public office
Lisa P. Jackson - EPA - she was a hired employee - for a GOv operation.
Peter R. Orszag - Private
Ronald Kirk - attorney - private
Susan Rice - mgmt - Private
Christina Romer - professor - Private
There are 21 posts. of which at least 13 have experience in the private sector -
That sounds like 62% to my math. and possibly higher depending on how one would count an employee of the EPA.
Curious how no one challenges the numbers state... 8% simply isnt accurate.
I'd say take a look at the list he has around him, they include some pretty impressive credentials. Not sure what the point is in the thread to begin with. Would you want someone from the private sector heading up the Defense Dept or Veterans Affairs? I'd go with the Generals he has chosen.
He has an extremely diverse cabinet. women, Hispanics, Asian American, and more.
So Now you know who they are and their background in brief... What's the point? Have an issue with the number of PHd's? Rhodes Scholars, or is this just another muckraking thread based on lies?
Guess now you can bash him because he has too many from the private sector.... I am assuming the other figures are accurate, with nothing valid to base it on. I counted The EPA as public.
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