General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Matt Taibbi: Barack Obama's former top cop cashes in after six years of letting banks run wild [View all]JDPriestly
(57,936 posts)government employees take their government jobs with the thought in the back of their minds that they will eventually be able to take the skills and expertise they learn in say the SEC or some other agency into the private sector and make a lot of money with them.
Unfortunately, the hope of a very lucrative job following government service can influence government employee's willingness and enthusiasm about enforcing laws and regulations against potential future employers. That's called a conflict of interest, and lawyers are supposed to be careful about conflicts of interest. While working as AG in the Justice Department, Holder was an employee of the US government. Now he is working in a private law firm. Theoretically, that is not a conflict of interest. But was his leniency with banks and investment houses while working for the government to some even subconscious extent influenced by his hope and expectation that he would go back to his private law firm and should avoid antagonizing potential clients of that law firm or any other law firm he might go to in the back of his mind?
We have a serious problem with this revolving door between government enforcement work preceding or following private employment for the companies that could potentially be the subjects of regulation.