Trump’s Economic Team: Bankers and Billionaires

(NYTIMES) — Donald J. Trump may rail against Wall Street and business elites at his campaign rallies, but that has not stopped him from turning to many of them for economic advice. On Friday, Mr. Trump announced his economic team, just days before he is expected to give a speech in Detroit on Monday about what he would do to improve American growth.

The 13-member team — all men — includes several billionaire bankers and investment managers, and even a part-time professional poker player. Many have been in business with Mr. Trump before. Having such moguls on the team not only expands Mr. Trump’s network of Wall Street donors and contacts, but may also reassure the financial community that it need not be too alarmed by some of the candidate’s populist oratory. Even so, several of those named often have expressed views against the economic mainstream, voicing suspicions about the Federal Reserve and global trade deals.

“They certainly can provide many useful insights, assuming Trump is willing to listen to them – it’s just I would like to see more diversity in terms of expertise and background,” said James Pethokoukis, a commentator at the conservative American Enterprise Institute. He noted that the group was heavily weighted toward developers, hedge fund managers and bankers, with hardly any representatives from Silicon Valley or academia. “I’m not sure how well the expertise on that list really matches up with some of the challenges facing the American economy.”

Kevin A. Hassett, an economist at the American Enterprise Institute, was also surprised at how few economists were selected. “Most campaigns tend to balance academics with business folks, like those on this list,” he said. As for whether the advisers will wield much influence, Mr. Hassett said, “It is pretty common for campaigns to have a long list of well-known business leaders who act as ‘advisers,’ but there is a large variation in how active they really are.”

The team will be led by Stephen Miller, the national director of policy for the campaign, and Dan Kowalski, the deputy director. Members are:

• John A. Paulson

President and chief executive of the investment firm Paulson & Co.

Mr. Paulson made billions of dollars by betting on the housing market’s collapse, right before the financial crisis, and has long been an advocate of relying on gold as a guide to monetary policy.

• Steven Mnuchin

National finance chairman of the Trump campaign.

He made a fortune at Goldman Sachs and later started Dune Capital Management, which bailed out a failed California-based housing lender. Renamed OneWest, the bank was criticized for its harsh foreclosure practices. In Hollywood, Mr. Mnuchin has produced movies, including “American Sniper” and “Mad Max: Fury Road.”

• Steven Roth

Founder and chairman of Vornado Realty Trust, the largest owner of commercial real estate in New York City.

He and Mr. Trump have frequently competed for properties and have teamed up in deals.

• Harold Hamm

An Oklahoma oil magnate.

Mr. Hamm is the chief executive and founder of Continental Resources, which owns stakes in the shale-rich Bakken Formation. Last year, he sold Hiland Partners, an oil pipeline and gathering company, for $3 billion. He was Mitt Romney’s energy adviser during the 2012 presidential campaign.

• Howard M. Lorber

The chief executive of Vector Group, a holding company of tobacco and real estate interests.

Mr. Lorber was named by Mr. Trump as one of his best friends and once appeared on his television show “The Apprentice.”

• Andrew Beal

A self-taught math whiz, the founder and president of Beal Bank, and an avid poker player.

Mr. Beal made a lot of money in the recession, buying distressed assets around the country. Mr. Beal, with the investor Carl Icahn, sued Mr. Trump for control of Trump Entertainment Resorts in Atlantic City after the company filed for bankruptcy. They failed, and Mr. Beal says now there are “no hard feelings.”

He describes himself as a libertarian, and previously backed Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky. In an interview in June, he said he did not know much about Mr. Trump’s policy goals, but trusted him to manage the economy.

• Thomas Barrack Jr.

The founder and executive chairman of the Los Angeles-based Colony Capital.

A longtime friend, Mr. Barrack previously worked with Mr. Trump and sold him the Plaza Hotel. Mr. Barrack has some government experience as a deputy under secretary for the Interior Department in the Reagan administration. He founded a “super PAC,” Rebuilding America Now, to support the Trump campaign.

• Stephen M. Calk

The chief executive of the Federal Savings Bank.

Mr. Calk has been critical of financial overhauls and regulations, including those advanced under the Dodd-Frank legislation approved by Congress after the financial crisis and supported by President Obama.

• David Malpass

A former chief economist at Bear Stearns who later founded an economic consulting firm.

Mr. Malpass made his own bid for office in 2010, running to be New York’s Republican senatorial nominee. He has worked in Washington before, in the Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush administrations and as an analyst in Congress. A prominent contributor to The Wall Street Journal opinion pages, he helped lead an attack by conservatives of the Federal Reserve’s aggressive asset-purchasing program in 2010.

• Dan DiMicco

The former president and chief executive of the Nucor Corporation, one of the country’s largest steel makers.

Last year, Mr. DiMicco published “American Made: Why Making Things Will Return Us to Greatness,” which argues that a strong manufacturing sector is essential to maintaining a comfortable middle class. He has long maintained that every trade agreement has been a negative for the United States.

• Steve Feinberg

The founder and chief executive of Cerberus Capital Management, a private equity firm.

Cerberus bought the failing carmaker Chrysler in 2007. Mr. Feinberg promised to revive Chrysler, but lost billions of dollars before it was restructured in a government-sponsored bankruptcy in 2009.

• Peter Navarro

A professor of economics and public policy in the business school at the University of California, Irvine and director of the documentary film “Death by China.”

Mr. Navarro is one of a minority of academic economists who argue that free trade is bad for America.

• Stephen Moore

A visiting fellow at the conservative Heritage Foundation’s Project for Economic Growth.

Mr. Moore has been an ardent proponent of a flat tax. He founded the antitax group Club for Growth, and later was a member of The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board. Mr. Moore advised Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky before he dropped out of the presidential race.

Correction: August 9, 2016
An article on Saturday about Donald J. Trump’s panel of economic advisers misstated part of the name of the “super PAC” founded by one of them, the investor Thomas Barrack Jr. It is Rebuilding America Now, not Rebuild America Now.

This article (Trump’s Economic Team: Bankers and Billionaires) First Appeared on the New York Times.