Why would a partner at Goldman Sachs or a high-paid lobbyist take an appointment to be a CFTC Commissioner at a salary of $157,000 per year?

Goldman Sachs partners are paid in the range of $5-10 million per year. Top lobbyists are paid in the hundreds of thousands. Congressional aides make a little less than commissioners, but not all that much less.

So why would any of these people accept the appointment as a CFTC Commissioner? Because they want to "do their duty" for the country? Or maybe because they can actually make more money...somehow...by exercising the authority of a commissioner? What do the people who lobby CFTC commissioners offer them in return for their favorable vote or interpretation of a regulation? Can't be campaign contributions--they don't stand for election. What did Jon Corzine offer these five commissioners in exchange for their ruling that he could use his firm's depositors money without asking them? Just asking.

The stated mission of the CFTC is to protect market users and the public from fraud, manipulation, and abusive practices related to the sale of commodity and financial futures and options, and to foster open, competitive, and financially sound futures and option markets. How well did the commissioners do with regard to the MF Global case? I wonder how many have been fired as the result? I wonder how many ever even got a call from their federal bosses, asking what the hell happened?