Goldman Sachs Secretary of the Treasury Jamie Dimon


Dan Wright offered up an interesting idea at the end of his post on the latest corrupt dickhead’s confirmation to a pivotal Cabinet post:

Given the total failure of either political party to stand up for the people and the rule of law by opposing such a clearly conflicted nominee, might it be time to simply resign ourselves to this endemic corruption? Perhaps there is a way for the taxpayers to get something out of the deal. How about simply auctioning off the job?

Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan etc. can all bid on the job – they are going to get what they want anyway lets up the price. Then at least the money from the sale can directly go into the Treasury rather than going through that pesky campaign finance and lobbying system. Citigroup has already paid for its access to Lew why should Goldman be left out?

This sounds like a fine outside-the-box strategy for scrounging up some extra cash to help reduce the deficit shore up social programs fix our crumbling infrastructure subsidize more tax cuts for the rich, but it completely overlooks the financial possibilities of naming rights.

I mean, sure, it’s pretty thrilling to think about “Secretary of the Interior Don Blankenship” or “Secretary of the Treasury Jamie Dimon,” but wouldn’t “ExxonMobil Secretary of the Interior Don Blankenship” or “Goldman Sachs Secretary of the Treasury Jamie Dimon” sound even better?  Admittedly, there could be some possibilities for brand confusion, but I’m sure those could all be ironed out.  Plus I bet a lot of companies would be willing to pay a little extra for a package deal to avoid any such unpleasantness.