Billionaires' club need not translate to good leadership
Mr Trump has chosen a group of super-wealthy persons to serve as top officials in his administration, and they are being inducted on a scale without precedent.
Add BT as a preferred source
DeeperDive is a beta AI feature. Refer to full articles for the facts.
PRESIDENT-elect Donald Trump has assembled the richest cabinet in American presidential history. Yet, influential studies show that neither vast personal wealth nor a glowing career in business is sufficient for good political leadership.
Mr Trump has chosen a group of super-wealthy persons to serve as top officials in his administration: Chairman and CEO of Exxon Mobil, Rex Tillerson, as Secretary of State; billionaire investor Wilbur Ross as Commerce Secretary; billionaire Chicago Cubs owner Todd Ricketts as Deputy Commerce Secretary; former Goldman Sachs executive Steven Mnuchin as Treasury Secretary; and billionaire philanthropist Betsy DeVos as Education Secretary (she is the wife of the heir to the Amway empire).
The brilliant American diplomat and geo-strategist, former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, considers persons with business backgrounds as the most ill prepared to exercise foreign policy leadership. As a result of their inexperience such persons are forced to rely on the bureaucracy for direction, he argues.
Copyright SPH Media. All rights reserved.
TRENDING NOW
‘Boring’ is the new black: The stars are aligning for a Singapore stock market revival
Near sell-out launches in March boost developer sales to 1,300 units after four slow months
China pips the US if Asean is forced to choose, but analysts warn against reading it like a sports result
Genting Singapore’s Lim Kok Thay receives S$7.5 million pay package for FY2025
