http://www.marketwatch.com/story/from-zero...tion-2016-11-11

A list of possible Trump cabinet picks that everyone has had to Google

In a modern-day Horatio Alger “rags to riches” story, many of the people that seem to be in line to serve in the cabinet of President-elect Donald Trump were in the policy wilderness prior to Nov. 8.

Many are so little-known that the players of Washington’s favorite parlor game — guessing the president-elect’s new cabinet — are forced to use Google searches. It seems that Trump’s road to the White House was so unexpected inside the beltway that Washington insiders spent little time trying to nail down their picks for administration positions.

But speculation has been intensifying by the minute about who will get tapped by Trump to serve in his cabinet. So far the Trump campaign has been tight-lipped about its picks. On Friday, Trump promised decisions on his administration “soon.”

Busy day planned in New York. Will soon be making some very important decisions on the people who will be running our government!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 11, 2016

Here’s a compilation of the latest names who seem to have the inside track to join Trump’s team.

Secretary of State: Talk has centered around Sen. Bob Corker, the Tennessee Republican who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Trump supporter Newt Gingrich is said to be interested, too. The least-known candidate mentioned is former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton, who worked for president George W. Bush, but has spent the Barack Obama years “in self-imposed isolation” writing fierce op-eds about the axis of evil, according to the New York Review of Books.

Treasury Secretary: The little-known candidate here is Steve Mnuchin, formerly of Goldman Sachs and Trump’s finance chairman. Mnuchin is also a prodigious producer of Hollywood movies, including “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.” But other, more-famous, names keep popping up, including J.P. Morgan JPM, +0.05% chief Jamie Dimon. The Wall Street Journal said Rep. Jeb Hensarling, the Republican from Texas who is the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, is being considered for the post.

Attorney General: Fans of “House of Cards” should watch this race as it seems that many close associates of Trump are vying to be America’s top cop. Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and Alabama Republican Sen. Jeffrey Sessions, all very close to Trump, are said to contenders for the job.

Defense Secretary: Not many names here. In part, this is due to many former Republican national security staffers pledging to never work for Trump. Sessions, the Republican from Alabama, has been mentioned. The little-known candidate is Lt.Gen Mike Flynn, a former director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, called by the Washington Post “one of the most respected intelligence officers of his generation.”

White House chief of staff: CNN is reporting that Trump seems to want Steve Bannon, the conservative media executive and the campaign head, to be his chief of staff. Other reports say Reince Priebus, the chairman of the Republican National Committee, has the inside track for the post.

Fed Chairman: Although any changing of the guard likely won’t happen until 2018, that hasn’t stopped talk of possible replacements for Fed Chairwoman Janet Yellen. The Horatio Alger here is David Malpass, who served in the Ronald Reagan Treasury Department and became chief economist at Bear Stearns from 1993 until 2008. After that, he unsuccessfully ran for the U.S. Senate in New York. He organized a letter campaign to former Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke trying to get the central bank’s second round of quantitative easing “reconsidered and discontinued.” Another mention is given to former Kansas City Fed President Tom Hoenig, who is now the vice chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Floating among speculators, too, is Kevin Warsh, who served at the Fed under Bernanke, but has been more critical of policy since leaving the central bank, and Stanford University economist John Taylor.