Obama slams Wall Street on bonuses
President calls the $18.4 billion in bonuses paid last year 'shameful' msnbc.com news services updated 7:19 p.m. ET, Thurs., Jan. 29, 2009
President Barack Obama issued a withering critique Thursday of Wall Street corporate behavior, calling it "the height of irresponsibility" for Wall Street employees to be paid more than $18 billion in bonuses last year while their financial sector was crumbling. "It is shameful," Obama said from the Oval Office. "And part of what we're going to need is for the folks on Wall Street who are asking for help to show some restraint, and show some discipline, and show some sense of responsibility." The president's comments, made with new Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner at his side, came in swift response to a report that employees of the New York financial world garnered an estimated $18.4 billion in bonuses last year. The figure, from the New York state comptroller, drew prominent news coverage. Yet Obama's stand also came just one day after he surrounded himself with well-paid chief executives at the White House. He had pulled in those business leaders and hailed them for being on the "front lines in seeing the enormous problems in our economy right now." The president said the public dislikes the idea of helping the financial sector, only to see the hole get bigger because of lavish spending. The comptroller's report found that Wall Street employees got paid about the same amount of bonuses as they did in the boom time of 2004. Obama said he and Geithner will speak directly to Wall Street leaders about the bonuses, which threaten to undermine public support for more government intervention. The House just approved an economic stimulus plan that would cost taxpayers more than $800 billion; the Senate is considering its own version. Separately, Congress also passed a $700 billion plan last year to shore up the financial sector. "We're going to be having conversations as this process moves forward directly with these folks on Wall Street to underscore that they have to start acting in a more responsible fashion if we are to, together, get this economy rolling again," Obama said. "There will be time for them to make profits, and there will be time for them to get bonuses," Obama said. "Now is not that time." Obama's scathing rebuke of Wall Street came as he was trying to push through Congress an economic recovery plan he says will "save or create more than 3 million new jobs over the next few years." Earlier Thursday, the Labor Department reported that almost 4.8 million Americans, an all-time high, were receiving unemployment benefits. That number is likely to grow as a slew of major U.S. companies have announced mass layoffs this month. Companies have announced about 130,000 layoffs in January, according to an Associated Press tally. The U.S. has been mired in a recession since December 2007. It is on track to be the longest downturn since World War II. Obama's economic stimulus legislation is headed for the Senate after a surprisingly partisan vote in the House in which Republicans united in opposition and 11 mostly conservative Democrats defected. During Senate debate next week, the measure is expected to pick up at least some GOP support. The $819 billion measure has attracted criticism from Republicans and, privately, from some Democrats for spending billions on Democratic favorites like education despite questions as to whether these expenditures would actually create new jobs. But with unemployment at its highest level in a quarter-century, the banking industry wobbling despite the infusion of staggering sums of bailout money and states struggling with budget crises, Democrats said the legislation was desperately needed. Obama said Geithner has already had to step in to stop one company from taking delivery of a new corporate jet it planned to buy even after receiving billions of dollars of support from the government. That bank, Citigroup, canceled the deal earlier this week.Obamas strong words overshadowed the other part of his message, that he wants to roll out, in the coming weeks, new plans to regulate Wall Street and get more credit flowing to consumers again. The president considers such steps to work in tandem with the economic stimulus measures unfolding in Congress. The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
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Obama Wall St Bonuses "Shameful" The Remixby voc3702,845 views
It get tiring to hear president after president promising the world to the American people to later on become another puppet of the fortune 500 .. Seriously !
Wall street making billions while the country struggles to pay mortgages, keep and job and provide for their families.
It's disgusting that such monopoly takes place and the gov is right behind it, companies make millions then file for chap 11 for us the people with our hard earned money to bail them out.
That's great !
Dimelo23 1 week ago
He's going in opposite directions. Raising the capital requirements of the banks and slowing foreclosures are both directly impacting the banks from lending again which directly slows the economy.
firstonethrough 1 month ago
i want to like obama but he really needs to put his money where his mouth is.
He should know that people voted for him because they agreed with his principles and he's been really shying away from his campaign self and leaving America's fate up to goldman sachs and friends. I guess the public got douped again
wrathofme03 3 months ago
ANDATE CON CUIDADO CON LO QUE DICES OBAMA QUE SI NO TE MATAN CON A JHON F KENEDY
rapblack2 4 months ago
Obama got under the table millions! HIGH FREQUENCY TRADING the new way to fraud the free markets. Well done you greedy bastards!
lucky01242 5 months ago
I'm taking sides with the Prssident on this point and I'm a Republican. Of course it also needs to be pointed out Nancy Pelosi has amassed a much larger personal fortune since she took over Congress in an America with 5% unemployment and turned it into an America with 10% unemployment so maybe they needed the bonus because she' s shaking them down for bigger bribes they can't really write off as a business expense. They should explain what they need more money for as mansions are so cheap now,
Texasjim2007 8 months ago
@jakesdoc We, the beat down People of the united states, allow the imbeciles or abusers of power to remain in office and continue ruining our country. How intelligent is that?
draphaelc 8 months ago
Shameful: "Some of the biggest men in the United States, in the field of commerce & manufacture, are afraid of something. ... that they better not speak, above their breath when they speak in comdemnation of it." "... I have unwittingly ruined my country. ... Our system of credit is ... in the hands of a few men. We have come to be one of the worst ruled, one of the most completely controlled & dominated governments ... by the opinion & duress of a small group of dominant men." - Woodrow Wilson
draphaelc 8 months ago
@Ydefinity Like your mother?
Snapshot290 11 months ago
@Ydefinity Your attempt at humor was pathetic. The fact is, MOST of congress ADMITTED to not having read the bill before they passed it, including the speaker of the house, Nancy Pelosi, and, for some reason, you see no problem with that. That tells me all I need to know about who truly lacks intelligence.
jakesdoc 11 months ago