I spotted this article on some newswire services and on Politico. Here is the link:
http://news.yahoo.com/...
I have a few comments on these excepts:
I have a few comments on these excepts:
The bankers struggled to make themselves clear to the president of the United States.
Arrayed around a long mahogany table in the White House state dining room last week, the CEOs of the most powerful financial institutions in the world offered several explanations for paying high salaries to their employees — and, by extension, to themselves.
"These are complicated companies," one CEO said. Offered another: "We’re competing for talent on an international market."
But President Barack Obama wasn’t in a mood to hear them out. He stopped the conversation and offered a blunt reminder of the public’s reaction to such explanations. "Be careful how you make those statements, gentlemen. The public isn’t buying that."
"My administration," the president added, "is the only thing between you and the pitchforks."
It is evident to me that many of the CEOs in the financial services industry have the sense of entitlement and arrogance about them. Further they are out of touch and some still don't get it.
The accounts demonstrate that despite the public comments on both sides that the meeting was cordial, the tone in the room was in fact one of mutual wariness. The titans of finance -- men used to being the most powerful man in almost any room -- sized up a new president who made clear in ways big and small that he expected them to change their ways.
The signal from Obama’s body language and demeanor was, ‘I’m the president, and you’re not.’"
According to the accounts of sources inside the room, President Obama told the CEOs exactly what he expects from them, and pushed back forcefully when they attempted to defend Wall Street’s legendarily high-paying ways.
I'm glad Obama is pushing back. For too long Wall Street has been given 'benefit of doubt' by Bush and the GOP Congress. It is about time they are being put in their place. I also believe that most of the CEOs in the room don't get it. They still dismiss the public outrage of how many of their investment decisions have put the economy in this situation. The years of lack of oversight from the Bush years have come home to roost. The terms of their survival are no longer theirs. They have abused it.