Goldman Sachs appointment to German Finance Ministry sparks outcry

A top Goldman Sachs investment banker is set to become a deputy finance minister in Chancellor Angela Merkel’s new coalition government.

Politicians from across the political spectrum, including Merkel’s Christian Democrats (CDU), immediately criticized the appointment.

Details of the appointment:

• Jörg Kukies will replace Thomas Steffan as deputy finance minister upon stepping down as the co-head of Goldman Sachs in Germany and Austria.
• The 50-year-old Kukies is set to take over responsibilities for financial markets and European policies at the Finance Ministry.
• Kukies is, like Finance Minister Olaf Scholz, a long-time member of the Social Democrats (SPD). He was the head of the party’s youth wing in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate in the early 1990s.

What were the reactions?

CDU budget expert Eckhardt Rehberg told German daily newspaper Passauer Neue Presse that Kukies’ appointment was a “questionable decision.” He added that “it raises the question whether he [Kukies] serves the interest of the federal government or his former industry.”

The deputy leader of the Left Party in the German parliament, Fabio de Masi, wrote on Twitter: “Scholz is copying Trump by making the arsonists the firefighters.” He added: “You may as well just let the bankers write the laws.” His post included a picture of Kukies superimposed on a poster of the Hollywood film “The Wolf of Wall Street.”

Finanzminister #Scholz imitiert #Trump & macht die Brandstifter zur Feuerwehr: Mit #JörgKukies wird Deutschlands #GoldmanSachs Boy Nr. 1 beamteter Staatssekretär. Kann man auch gleich Bankster die Gesetze schreiben lassen: https://t.co/d1PfYbbqiCpic.twitter.com/j6OC4A2Oum

— Fabio De Masi, MdB (MP) (@FabioDeMasi) March 19, 2018

The Greens’ finance expert in parliament, Gerhard Schick, said: “It gives an indication of the problems in the SPD when a social democrat entrusts responsibility for banking regulations to an investment banker.”

Finance Minister Scholz, who was attending an economic summit in Buenos Aires, said after the announcement: “I’m happy that I’ve gotten together a good team.”

The SPD’s economic forum, a coalition of companies and trade associations, said in a statement, “the Finance Ministry is on good footing with Jörg Kukies,” who it described as a “renowned international expert.”

 

Veteran returns: The finance ministry also announced on Monday that veteran official Werner Gatzer would return as a deputy finance minister responsible for budgetary affairs. Gatzer, who will make the switch from state-owned train giant Deutsche Bahn (DB), last served in the finance ministry under former Minister Wolfgang Schäuble.

Virtually every position in the key financial markets in Europe and America are all coming from Goldman Sachs. According to  a report by Armstrong Economics  website , there is something seriously suspicious. Such people do not leave the highest paying jobs to work for peanuts.

According to Armstrong Economics there has NEVER been any investigation of former Goldman Sachs people who take strategic government positions and alter policy only to leave. Robert Rubin ushered through the repeal of Glass Steagall and the resigned Hank Paulson saved AIG whose default would have taken down Goldman while he eliminated two top Goldman competitors over who there was the authority to bailout – Lehman and Bear. There was no authority to bailout an insurance company operating in London no less to skirt US regulation. Even the seizure of our company, Princeton Economics, was run by a court-appointed receiver who was a full-time board member of Goldman Sachs – Alan Cohen.

Armstrong Economics added: It would be very nice if someone simply conducted an investigation to see what perks these people collect after they leave government service. But why should anyone do that? Everyone in Washington and the Department of Justice dream of getting a job at Goldman. Yet the burning question is simple. Is Goldman or its people going just too far? Their “former” people seem to be controlling the world financial system. Why is that so many people come from the same firm? Nobody will investigate because Goldman is simply one of the too big to jail and otherwise known as the Untouchable.

DW