Here's what I know about the lecture circuit from being a part of it back in 82. I was a salaried employee, which in that world meant I was a step above the people who got paid an hourly wage, in a mid level national computer company. When my team got sent out to Indianapolis or Colorado Springs we were on an expense account. We didn't stay at Trump Towers quality hotels but we sure didn't get put up at a Motel 6. We didn't eat at diners. The company paid for fancy restaurants. I still remember the coconut breaded shrimp, the lobster, the filet mignon. I'm not talking about Red Lobster or Olive Gardens. We went to quality restaurants that I haven't been able to afford since.

It wasn't Goldman Sachs level but yes there were these parties or conventions for us up and coming masters of the computer world. Open bar, buffet table, and some mid level famous person to give a speech. We weren't Goldman Sachs so no ex-presidents for us. It was both a perk and a requirement for advancement. Don't show up and someone would notice. The higher level bosses would be there so you better show up. You'd get a chance to introduce yourself, shake his hand, maybe make a good enough impression in your five minute face time that he'd remember you.

The speaker is just entertainment. Someone to listen to so people don't spend too much time at the bar, get drunk, and embarrass themselves. It doesn't matter what they did they just had to be famous. The more famous the more they got paid and the more cachet you had when you bragged about meeting them. Ex-presidents, ex-secretaries of state like Colin Powell, Condelezza Rice, Hillary were in the upper echelon on the lecture circuit. Al Franken spent some years on the lecture circuit and wrote a funny chapter in one of his books about it. He was just a moderately well known comedian so his pay for a 60 minute speech was likely only in the ten to tens of thousand range. Someone has to give a speech at the small to mid level corporate gatherings and they can't afford an ex-president.

All the corporations, small and large, have these get togethers. The money is there and someone will be hired. Fame is the standard for admission to a paying gig. Obama was going to get hundreds of thousands of dollar speaking gigs no matter what he did as president. He is gong to get that money because he was president and having him at your shindig is a coup. Think of the bragging rights the master of the universe at Goldman Sachs gets when he tells his master of the  universe friend or competitor at Morgan Stanley that he just met Obama.

Here's the thing. Goldman Sachs regularly gives away hundreds of millions of dollars a year just for good publicity. The person hired to decide who to give it to is paid 2 million dollars a year. 400 thousand dollars is pocket change for a corporation this wealthy. If Sanders was elected president and he did every thing he said he would after he left office Goldman Sachs would offer him 400 thousand dollars to give a speech. Just because he's an ex-president and if you're Goldman Sachs you have to have someone really famous at your shindig. Sanders would go too because really, who's gonna turn down that much money. If he went there and told the hedge fund billionaires they were greedy bastards destroying America they'd likely say --oh that Bernie, what a card-- laughing so hard the caviar didn't just nearly choke them the 50 year old scotch, that the company is paying $10,000 a bottle for the open bar, would likely be coming out their nose.