American Winner

TREASURY SECRETARY STEVEN MNUCHIN EMBODIES THE PLUTOCRATIC PRINCIPLE THAT A CRISIS IS A TERRIBLE THING TO WASTE

- Eric Levitz

Steve mnuchin knows his way around a crisis. Twelve years ago, the Treasury sec­retary was still a middling multi-millionaire of little renown or historical import. But whenever God closes a door on an underwater homeowner, he opens a window to an unscrupulous speculator, and in 2008, the Big Man began closing a lot of doors. Mnuchin didn’t miss his opening. He may have been just a humble Goldman Sachs nepotism hire turned Hollywood financier back then, but he had a few million dollars to play with and a few friends with many millions more. Together, they bought up a failing mortgage lender, rapidly foreclosed on thousands of borrowers, and resold the homes at a nifty profit. By the end of his tenure as a bank CEO, Mnuchin had earned himself the title “Foreclosure King”—and a return of $200 million. That’s the kind of money that can buy you entrance into the good graces of a Republican nominee, espe­cially if he’s already alienating a lot of the party’s biggest donors. And from there, it’s walking distance to the White House.

Thus far, the covid­19 crash has been as kind to Mnuchin as the Great Recession once was. If the last global economic crisis made him rich enough to purchase a lofty perch in our government, this one is mak­ ing the Treasury secretary powerful enough to claim a prominent place in U.S. history. Before the novel coronavirus made its pres­ence felt, Mnuchin’s most memorable achievement as a public servant may have been commandeering a government plane for a solar­eclipse­themed day trip. Since the pandemic sickened global markets, he has brokered the largest stimulus legisla­tion ever passed and won control of a multi­ trillion­dollar bailout fund.