Snow Leaves Treasury to Goldman Sachs’ Boss

President Bush finally announced the departure of Treasury Secretary John Snow yesterday. Mr. Snow has been trying to leave for about a year, now, yet his resignation seemed to hinge on someone wanting to take over – and no one wanted to do that. At long last, someone has been found, Goldman Sachs’ Chairman and CEO Henry Paulson.

The change comes much too late to help the president. The recent shifts of personnel at the White House and in the Cabinet were spread out over several weeks, and as a result, there is no sense in the press or among the chatterati that a new wind is blowing down Pennsylvania Avenue. The rule in politics is to make a big show of the changes to switch the conversation from past screw-ups to future possibilities. This didn’t happen.

Mr. Paulson is probably not a bad candidate for Secretary of the Treasury. According to CNN, “[Mr.] Paulson made more $38 million in 2005, according to Goldman's most recent proxy statement, with most of that, $30.1 million, coming in the form of restricted stock awards, followed by stock options valued at $7.3 million. He received $29.2 million in stock grants in 2004 and $20.8 million in 2003, on top of his base pay of $600,000 each of the last three years. He had 4.6 million shares of Goldman Sachs at the end of 2005, with just under $700 million at Tuesday’s price, and he had options for another 680,000 shares at the end of the year, with an [sic] value of $22.6 million at that time.” He lost money changing jobs as Goldman’s stock dropped 1% on the news he was leaving.

The good news is that he is about as qualified as they come. A Wall Street success is always welcome at Treasury. That means there won’t be a fight over his nomination, which America doesn’t need. Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said, “His experience, intelligence and deep understanding of national and global economic issues make him the best pick America could have hoped for,” and Senator Schumer will support the nomination.

Interestingly, Mr. Paulson has a lot of green but is also rather green politically. Last year at his guidance, Goldman Sachs donated 680,000 acres in Chile to the Wildlife Conservation Society. This year, he gave $100 million in Goldman stock to a family foundation for conservation. He prefers bird watching in Central Park to golf out at Shinnecock Hills, is chairman of the Nature Conservancy and the chairman emeritus of the Peregrine Fund. Here’s hoping his views rub off on the Texas oil cartel that runs Washington.

© Copyright 2006 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux.

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