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Obama Meets With "Fat Cat Bankers"
By
Jen Chung
Published Dec 14, 2009
Modified Dec 14, 2009
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By
Jen Chung
Published Dec 14, 2009
Modified Dec 14, 2009
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After saying on 60 Minutes last night, "I did not run for office to be helping out a bunch of fat cat bankers on Wall Street," President Obama met with many of those fat cats at the White House today. Obama wants bankers to support his administration's financial industry reforms.
Of course, much ado was made about how three executives—Lloyd Bankfein of Goldman Sachs, John Mack of Morgan Stanley and Richard Parsons of Citigroup—did not make it to the meeting, joining in on video conference instead. Parsons made some excuse about "inclement weather" but things seemed fine—at least according to populist mode of transportation Amtrak. Dealbreaker guesses all three were on the same cycle.
Here's more of Obama's tough words on Wall Street:
He said of some companies' motivation to repay TARP bailout money so they could go back to paying employees big salaries (hello, Citigroup):
"I think in some cases that was a motivation...Which I think tells me that the people on Wall Street still don't get it. They don't get it. They're still puzzled, why is it that people are mad at the banks? Well, let's see. You guys are drawing down $10, $20 million bonuses after America went through the worst economic year that it's gone through in decades, and you guys caused the problem. And we've got ten percent unemployment. Why do you think people might be a little frustrated?"
Tagged
economy
executive compensation
fat cat
president obama
TARP bailout
wall street
Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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