Obama Dials Down Wall Street Criticism

[WriteDown]

Source: WSJ

By MONICA LANGLEY

WASHINGTON -- The Obama administration, after months of criticizing Wall Street, has been scrambling to woo top bankers and financiers to back its latest bailout plan.
Associated Press

President Barack Obama speaks about investments in clean energy and new technology included in the budget on Monday in Washington.

In recent days, in spite of public furor over huge bonuses paid at American International Group Inc., the administration has concluded that it needs the private sector to play a central role in fixing the economy. So over the weekend, the White House worked to tone down its Wall Street bashing and to win support from top bankers for the bailout plan announced Monday, which will rely on public-private investments to soak up toxic assets.

But weeks of searing criticism by politicians and the public had left bankers leery of working with the government. After brainstorming about what to do about that problem, the White House resolved to try to take control of the debate, according to several administration officials. In weekend television appearances, President Barack Obama and other administration officials tempered their criticisms of the financial sector.

Meanwhile, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and his colleagues worked the phones to try to line up support on Wall Street for the plan announced Monday. They told executives they don't favor using the tax code to retroactively penalize specific individuals who had received bonuses, according to people familiar with the calls. They asked officials to sign on "in pencil, not ink," and to "validate" or "express support" for the plan, these people say...

Read more: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123785266231219605.html#mod=whats_news_free?mod=igoogle_wsj_gadgv1

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Not surprising.

[Amonester]

1. if t r i a n g u l a t i o n ! = c h a n g e

/* warning */
goto f a i l u r e

[Brucie Kibbutz]

2. It's about time!

He's been way too hard on those guys. I mean, a man can only take so much, ya know?

[acmavm]

3. Kissy kissy and make up time. They didn't mean all those bad

things they said about 'em, even if they were true.

[biopowertoday]

5. LOL

[Amonester]

4. The banks' message:

"The banks' message: If you want our help to get credit flowing again to consumers and businesses, stop the rush to penalize our bonuses."

How is this different from blackmail threats??

[mbperrin]

9. No different as far as I can see. There's only one way to deal with

blackmail, and if you guessed that the way is to pay them,

guess again.

[amandabeech]

11. No, it's called give me almost all the upside on this new bank bailout

and you keep the worst of the downside, and maybe we'll help you out.

Pay for play, just in a different way.

[kaygore]

6. I never thought he really meant any of it given his choices of

Bernanke, Geithner, and Larry Summers--the same old, same old, only with a new president.

The wealthy live in a different world than the rest of us and they have no plans to give it up.

I suspect now that Obama was bought and paid for long before they decided that he would run for the senate.

I really regret all the money I gave to his campaign--money that I could ill afford to give.

Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me!

[No Elephants]

7. I wonder how much yarn all that neocon WSJ spinning yields.

[Reedom]

8. They should just give them a choice

Keep the retention bonus.... and then fire them for a lousy job.

We are so screwed.


Woo ing the private Capital markets. What a joke. Where is the Capital? In China? In India? Bin Laden? Where is the money honey?

It is in the sweat of our children's brow. Or as Joan Rivers suggests.....

[GeorgeGist]

10. Obama makes pigs fly.

His secret: lipstick.