Skip to search.

Obama Lashes Out at "Fat Cat Bankers," But Talk Is Cheap

Posted Dec 14, 2009 10:16am EST by Aaron Task in Newsmakers, Banking

Updated from 10:16 a.m. EST

Ahead of Monday's meeting with top Wall Street CEOs, President Obama talked tough about the industry Sunday on "60 Minutes", declaring:
"I did not run for office to be helping out a bunch of fat cat bankers on Wall Street."

Obama also talked about how the bankers "don't get it. They're still puzzled, why is it that people are mad at the banks," and reiterated the need for comprehensive financial regulatory reform, featuring:

  • A Consumer Finance Protection Agency
  • Regulation of derivatives and the "shadow" banking industry.
  • A systemic-risk regulator with the power to monitor "too big to fail" firms and break them up, if necessary.

Those initiatives were part of the financial reform legislation the House passed Friday. Moreover, it's possible the administration's tough rhetoric contributed to Goldman Sachs' decision last week to stop paying cash bonuses to its top executives, and Bank of America's hesitation to lavish its next CEO with a big compensation package, according to published reports.

Still, Obama was light on specifics in terms of what actions the administration will require of the banks, although perhaps he was saving that for today's meeting with a dozen industry CEOs, including Lloyd Blankfein, Jamie Dimon, and Ken Lewis. (Update: Blankfein was one of three CEOs unable to attend the meeting in person and will instead participate via phone; Blankfein, Morgan Stanley's John Mack and CIT's Dick Parson were on the same plane and the flight was delayed due to fog, Reuters reports.

The bottom line is talk is cheap and, to date, the administration has talked tough but has taken few concrete steps to reign in the risk-taking and bonus culture on Wall Street, where the big have become even bigger amid expectations of future bailouts if the industry gets itself in trouble again. Why else is Citigroup being allowed to repay its TARP funds? (Stay tuned for more on that in a forthcoming video.)

The one thing Obama's team seems intent on doing is spurring the banks to start lending again, which is understandable considering the industry is sitting on over $1 trillion of "excess reserves." But dubious lending practices to non-creditworthy borrowers are a big reason we got into this mess in the first place and it's not hard to imagine reckless lending won't make a comeback if banks feel they "have" to lend - and the government will back them up if the loans go bad, besides.

The sad reality is the U.S. government missed an opportunity to really reform Wall Street in late 2008 and early 2009, a bipartisan failure. Now the window is closing rapidly, if it's not already shut.

8 comments

  • 0 users liked this comment Please sign in to rate this comment up. Please sign in to rate this comment down. 0 users disliked this comment
    Chris Wed May 09, 2012 01:15 am EDT Report Abuse
    When will the Federal Government charge the rest of the recreant slime who destroyed the USA financially?

    These names below should be prosecuted and I'm betting the Occupy Wall Street protesters think so as well!

    - Joseph Cassano — the former head of AIG’s financial products unit. Under his watch the company amassed massive amounts of risk that lead to the biggest bailout in U.S. history. There’s very little chance of Cassano facing time, however; Federal prosecutors recently dropped their investigation against him.

    - Former CEO Killinger and Rotella the ex-operating chief - pushed WaMu (Washington Mutual) to take on greater and greater risk, even as they ignored warnings that housing prices were due for a fall, and that WaMu couldn’t manage the company’s increasing reliance on subprime or other risky home loans. They recently paid 64 million in fines hoping to gag government prosecution; they must be prosecuted in a federal court of this heinous crime.

    - Dick Fuld & Joe Gregory — Lehman Brothers CEO and COO who watched their house of cards come tumbling down, bringing the global financial system to the edge of the collapse.

    - Angelo Mozilo — The Countrywide CEO helped fuel the subprime madness. His company’s lack of due diligence is a prime reason for the foreclosure problem. Mozilo also co-founded IndyMac, the large California bank that was seized by the FDIC in July 2008.

    - The C level executives from the rating companies Moody’s, S&P and Fitch that gave the highest ratings, investment grade - triple A, to all the worthless sub-prime CDO’s, SIV’s, MBS’s. It was their ratings of these worthless pieces of paper that encouraged investors to purchase them and subsequently lose everything. This is out and out fraud!

    - Fabrice “Fabulous Fab” Tourre & John Paulson — the banker and hedge fund manager at the center of the SEC’s criminal fraud complaint against Goldman Sachs. People need to know the Goldman’s of the world don’t have politicians in their pockets and that the American markets are a safe place to put your money.

    - Stanley O’Neal — the former Merrill Lynch CEO pushed the firm to aggressively market and trade CDOs. O'Neal left with the firm on the brink of collapse before Bank of America purchased it. For all his good work, O’Neal was fired but left with a golden parachute and options valued at $161.5 million at the time.

    - Let’s not forget the C level executives of MF Global, for what allegedly appear to be another Ponzi scheme or some other type of financial fraud.

    Not only did these cretins help cause the Wall Street bailout, they are also responsible for the extended unemployment claims and other financial burdens which ultimately reached the taxpayer.

    No matter how many promises and oaths we hear on Capitol Hill or Wall Street, the bottom line is retail investors are as likely to vacation in Al Qaeda country as they are to throw the remainder of their life savings back into a stock market full of financial terrorists.

    During the Savings and Loan scandal of the 80’s thousands of miscreants went to jail. So far Ralph Cioffi and Matthew Tannin, Bear Stearns hedge fund managers, are the only ones to have even gone on trial. They were acquitted. These people destroyed the wealth of the middle class in America, which equates to destroying America, its time they are put on trial! Americans write your Federal Senator today and ask them why these robber barons have not been charged. Force this government to respond ethically to this financial holocaust and charge these villains; otherwise vote them out of office.
  • 0 users liked this comment Please sign in to rate this comment up. Please sign in to rate this comment down. 0 users disliked this comment
    Ronald Reagan sucked Tue May 08, 2012 02:10 pm EDT Report Abuse
    Both Democrats and Republicans are bought and paid for by the fat cats of Wall Street.
  • 0 users liked this comment Please sign in to rate this comment up. Please sign in to rate this comment down. 0 users disliked this comment
    gattay46 Tue May 08, 2012 12:33 pm EDT Report Abuse
    obama the two face great liar in chief
  • 0 users liked this comment Please sign in to rate this comment up. Please sign in to rate this comment down. 0 users disliked this comment
    gattay46 Tue May 08, 2012 12:32 pm EDT Report Abuse
    obama is a two face great liar in chief
  • 0 users liked this comment Please sign in to rate this comment up. Please sign in to rate this comment down. 0 users disliked this comment
    Jeffrey Rowan Tue Nov 08, 2011 12:36 pm EST Report Abuse
    Obama is three years in his office. Hasn't done anything. Time for tough talk is long gone. Voters need to see some arrests, prosecutions, and jail terms for Bankers. If not, the sad conclusion is Obama is bought and paid for.
  • 1 users liked this comment Please sign in to rate this comment up. Please sign in to rate this comment down. 0 users disliked this comment
    gravy Tue Nov 08, 2011 11:08 am EST Report Abuse
    Anyone that thinks Obama is on the side of the poor has thier head in the sand. The man has spent almost 5 tillion in 3 years and all the US has to show for is, the rich are richer the poor are poorer and the USA has 5 tillion more debt. And no I'm not a GW lover. He was a screw up too! Ron Paul...
  • 1 users liked this comment Please sign in to rate this comment up. Please sign in to rate this comment down. 0 users disliked this comment
    US Navy ret Mon Nov 07, 2011 02:41 pm EST Report Abuse
    Talk is cheap and so is buckwheat
  • 0 users liked this comment Please sign in to rate this comment up. Please sign in to rate this comment down. 0 users disliked this comment
    AKQJ Fri Oct 07, 2011 11:47 am EDT Report Abuse
    Most Americans NEED A HISTORY LESSON. The hogwash handed them by a politically motivated and liberally biased media are nothing but LIES and twisted truthes. Look at what Liberals have done to California. Our country is heading there with all these entitlement programs. USPS, Mdcr, Mdcd, UE, SS, Fannie Mae/Mac; all programs that have failed or have been overspent by our inept govt. NOW THEY WANT TO ADD MORE TAXES AND HEALTHCARE? A little long term planning by a "REAL AMERICAN" individual would suffice in place of ALL these programs. Everyday fake Americans sit on their couches eating garbage, collecting unemployment for as long as they can and leetch off any entitlement program they can. Then they go to a doctor for a hangnail and get everyone else to pay for it. Once again the GREAT liberal policies will bring the rest of America down with it and thru the ashes will rise YET AGAIN, ANOTHER FAILED ENTITLEMENT PROGRAM. You think our obesity rates are high now? Wait till this IDIOTIC healthcare bill and the increased taxes that pushed thru the backdoor starting hitting YOUR paycheck. Why should I stay healthy when I have to pay for fatso over there, sitting on his couch eating candy bars? Do I care if you have healthcare, go out get a job and pay for it like the rest of us. Stand on your own feet and put your hand back. Same goes for foreclosures; pay your mortgage, declare bankruptcy, or sell the home. AMERICANS NEED TO STOP BLAMING SOMEONE ELSE AND MAN UP!

    Americans are charitable and give IF ASKED, but STEAL it thru taxes and the SMART ones will fight. Many RICH are politicians from both parties and THEY LOVE TAXES, Cause stupid liberals will TAX themselves right into a hole, LIKE MOST ARE IN NOW!! The rich can absorb taxes or leave the country. They're MOBILE and taxes give them more control over us. The new tax rates of 320% on long term capital gains, who does that hurt? If you think JUST the Rich, then your TRULY LIBERAL AND DUMB. The REAL history of how this country's economy got to this point, the Dumbocratic party. They're DESTROYING AMERICA. WATCH the film "I WANT YOUR MONEY". Business, Finance, & Economic majors, RICH or POOR, are usually on the RIGHT side of the aisle. Liberals need to learn how a Balance Sheet or P&L works and THE TRUTH on how we got to this point. I'm tired of Liberals pretending they're the people's party. What a joke! You want to be for the people.....TAKE CARE OF YOUR SELF, YOUR FAMILY, YOUR FRIENDS, & GIVE WHAT YOU CAN......NOT WHAT THE GOVT TAKES FROM YOU! The biggest flaw in liberal politics is the INSANE ASSumptions that GOVT can manage the daily & long term life of the people. As I mentioned in my 1st paragraph, they have proved time and time again that they can't be trusted. So handing them more and more tax revenues isn't going to transport us to some majic Utopia. Many of the American public can't balance their own checkbook or read financial statements. Perhaps they're a true reflection of America. If so,we're in trouble and I PRAY MERICANS WAKE UP!! Our founding fathers would roll over in the grave if they saw what this country has become. Even Liberals in the 70's and early 80's were more fiscally responsible then these clowns, but perhaps they too were a reflection of the people back then. Whateva the case.....people need to know that the gravy entitlement trains and the govt intrusions into daily life NEED TO STOP!!. If I had to one message to tell Liberals; ITS YOUR MONEY AND PAYING MORE IN TAXES HURTS EVERYONE. MONEY EQUALS POWER/CONTROL AND IS NOT EVIL. THE MORE TAXES & ENTITLEMENTS YOU CREATE, THE MORE CONTROL & FINANCIAL FREEDOMS YOU GIVE UP!

Post a comment

Sign in to post a comment, or Sign up for a free account.
Quotes delayed, except where indicated otherwise. Delay times are 15 mins for NASDAQ, NYSE and Amex. See also delay times for other exchanges.

Quotes and other information supplied by independent providers identified on the Yahoo! Finance partner page. Quotes are updated automatically, but will be turned off after 25 minutes of inactivity. Quotes are delayed at least 15 minutes for NASDAQ, NYSE and Amex. See also delay times for other exchanges. Real-Time continuous streaming quotes are available through our premium service. You may turn streaming quotes on or off. Fundamental company data provided by Capital IQ. Financials data provided by Edgar Online. Historical chart data and daily updates provided by Commodity Systems, Inc. (CSI). International historical chart data, daily updates, fund summary, fund performance, dividend data and Morningstar Index data provided by Morningstar, Inc. Analyst estimates data provided by Thomson Financial Network. All data provided by Thomson Financial Network is based solely upon research information provided by third party analysts. Yahoo! has not reviewed, and in no way endorses the validity of such data. Yahoo! and ThomsonFN shall not be liable for any actions taken in reliance thereon. All information provided "as is" for informational purposes only, not intended for trading purposes or advice. Neither Yahoo! nor any of independent providers is liable for any informational errors, incompleteness, or delays, or for any actions taken in reliance on information contained herein. By accessing the Yahoo! site, you agree not to redistribute the information found therein.