To those of us holding our fingers in the wind to ascertain whether newly re-elected President Obama will turn out to be “the one” we hoped he would be all along, the appointment of Mary Jo White to head the SEC appears to send a mixed message, since in her career she has both prosecuted and defended wall streeters.
Mary Jo White to be named new SEC boss
Unfortunately, the role as prosecutor came first (in the 1990s). Had it been the other way around, I might have assumed possible “conversion.” Or maybe it was conversion — from do-gooder to wall-streeter. Or is she another pimp without moral compass, who follows the money through the revolving door? Or does the fact that she has played both roles mean that she can be more fair, since she sees both sides? Being both naive and by nature optimistic, I’d like to think that.
But then there’s Matt Taibbi’s take on the subject:
