Big Wall Street bonuses "offensive": Obama aide

[Joanne98]

Source: Reuters

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A top White House aide lashed out on Sunday at Wall Street firms that are handing out huge bonuses while the rest of the economy struggles and small businesses cannot create jobs because of a lack of credit.

Highlighting a disconnect between Wall Street and Main Street that has caught the attention of the Obama administration, Goldman Sachs Group Inc's was on a pace to hand out more than $20 billion in bonuses, which could make this year a record.

Compensation is also soaring at several other big firms, which are raking in higher trading revenues amid a recovery in the stock market that lifted the Dow Jones industrial average above 10,000 last week.

But the economy remains weak elsewhere and the U.S. unemployment rate, now at 9.8 percent, is widely forecast to climb above 10 percent.

"The bonuses are offensive," David Axelrod, a senior adviser to President Barack Obama, said on the ABC News program, "This Week."

"The most offensive thing is, we haven't seen the kind of increase in lending that ... we should," Axelrod said. "There are a lot of small businesses, credit-worthy businesses around this country who still can't get the capital they need to grow, which is important for our economy."


Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE59F4DI20091018

[PSPS]

1. WOW! They're "offended!!11!!" I'm sure that will be "duly noted!!11!!1"

Frankly, if Obama had given me the $13 trillion of taxpayer money, anyone being "offended" wouldn't bother me too much. In fact, I don't think I'd even be crying on my way to the my bank.

[Orsino]

2. Translation: "inconvenient" and "too difficult to conceal completely." n/t

[IndianaGreen]

3. So what is He going to do about it?

:shrug: