Rex Tillerson, the U.S. Secretary of State fired by U.S.
President Donald Trump and former CEO of Exxon, an international oil company
based in the U.S., did not allow his difference with the president of tariffs on
steel and aluminum to be a deal breaker. In this respect, the ex-CEO was not
doing his company’s bidding. That is to say, he was not primarily in public
service to serve the private interests of a multinational corporation. Unfortunately,
this cannot be said of Gary Cohn, the ex-president of Goldman Sachs who quit as
Trump’s chief economic advisor just after the tariffs were announced. Tariffs
in general and especially to protect goods in another sector are not in the
interests of a major American banks with substantial international business. If
the former president of Goldman Sachs had taken the post in government to
further Goldman’s interests, the question is whether public service is mere
window-dressing at the highest levels of government—plutocracy being the real
name of the game.
