Obama To Bank CEOs: "My Administration Is The Only Thing Between You And The Pitchforks"

Politico:

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.

Read the whole story: Politico

Comments

[Helzapoppin]

09:35 AM on 04/05/2009

and the longer Obama positions himself between the CEOs and those pitchforks, the more likely he is to get skewered himself.

[PhilipTaylor]

04:03 AM on 04/05/2009

WHY NOT "Banksters, I am the only thing between you and PRISON on FRAUD CHARGES!"
WHY Mr. President?

We should RESENT being called "the pitchforks" as we are the VICTIMS of the Banksters' Scheming CRIMES!

The implication is we are an unruly M0B when we are simply seeking Justice for the Terrible WRONGS these Banksters (Still in their JOBS) have done to the 99.9% of Americans NOT working on Wall Street!

In a just society these people would all have been investigated, including their accomplices, for the crimes of at least "INSIDER TRADING SCHEMES", far worse than anything Martha Stewart did, and for misrepresentation of their PRODUCTS and SERVICES. There are far more serious FRAUD crimes as well.

Main Street $1
Wall Street $1,000

After $12 Trillion from the FED and Treasury and Still "NO CREDIT FLOWS to MAIN STREET!"
Banks instead are CANCELLING CREDIT LINES!

Something is VERY WRONG!
_____________________________

"I will clean up Wall Street and Washington!" Remember?

Why is HE PROTECTING and HELPING the BANKSTER CRIMINALS?

Why Mr. President - NO INVESTIGATIONS! NO FIRINGS! NO JUSTICE!

Campaign and Voting Corruption: ALL Corporate and Lobbying Money should be placed in a Government Cleansing and Distribution Agency and doled out by "STRICT Formulas Blindly Applied" to the remove Congress Members from the Corruption of their VOTING and stop the need for Congress selling its votes for campaign money. It will also balance the playing field of New Representatives versus Incumbents!

[blimie]

07:35 PM on 04/04/2009

I don't believe he said that, sounds like something from a western movie.

What about the other Huff Post headline that reads, Obama administration aiming to help firms sidestep bailout rules to avoid restrictions by congress including limits on lavish executive pay.

Does that mean he says one thing and does another.

[blueskybigstar]

04:14 PM on 04/04/2009

Loans as commodities that become the basis of other loans used to hedge other loans and so on is much of the problem. It just goes on. The system is like a tax upon a tax upon a tax that does not benefit the people who are slowly being s t r a n g l e d by a select very few who are living on their suffering. You need to learn about old fashioned values. Don't borrow from Peter to pay Paul. It is funny that you say populist so derisively, but in the matters of economy, I trust my grandmother who used to pick cotton as a girl for having more sense than Rubin, Greenspan, Summers, or Geithner. When I see these people I see benefactors of thievery and laziness, worse than bums. I'm trying to identify the foundations of the problems and come up with solutions while you want more of the same. Some of the best lessons of the bible are about being responsible with money. I would love to have been able to enjoy the savings we had and the freedom of debt and usury that existed in the sixties before the banks took over.
Perhaps, that is why every statistic shows things were easier then and the people have been losing wealth?

[blueskybigstar]

04:17 PM on 04/04/2009

There was another post showing who I was replying to, but it has not posted yet.

[ObjectiveRealist]

03:24 PM on 04/04/2009

The article is not exactly about that comment, or even about populism or the general, negative sentiment about big, corrupt, irresponsible financial industry clowns who can't even turn a profit with all the special treatment, tax breaks and legal preferences they have enjoyed for decades. It is about President Obama reminding the bankers he is not the MBA "President" of the United States to whom they're accustomed, and makes clear that he will not let them dictate terms on his watch.

Thank you, Mr. President!

[wadenelson1]

12:49 PM on 04/04/2009

Please STAND ASIDE Mr. Obama....

*sharpening my pitchfork*

[mofmars333]

01:40 PM on 04/04/2009

Wouldn't tar & feathers be more humane?

[Rule Of Law]

02:40 PM on 04/04/2009

Show me where the banksters have practiced "humanity?" Pitchforks might be too good for them...

[Jazzcomedian]

12:30 PM on 04/04/2009

I was at that meeting and none of that happened. First off, it wasn't water on the table, it was the original bad tasting Gatorade. This sent a firm message that the bankers were going to sweat. Then everybody sat around playing bingo, and eating cheetos, until President Obama entered. Then, one of the bankers made a joke, and offered President Obama a home equity line on the White House, which brought the meeting to an abrupt halt.

President Obama was not amused, and left to talk to his auto task force, saying he was going to fire Wagoner. The bankers were stunned at his sudden departure, and started whistling, realizing they'd stepped over the line. One started weeping. Then they left to face the media. That's the real story. This is why the newspapers are dying. This is why the media is no longer trusted to give Americans the truth.

Remember, you didn't get this from me, or else I'll lose my job as a trusted adviser to the President.

[applescruff]

10:53 AM on 04/04/2009

It should be pointed out that not all banks and bankers were involved in these shady,exotic financial tricks. In fact if the larger banks guilty of these offenses had run thier institutions like the majority of community banks across this country we would not be having these problems. The larger banks basically set up thier own ponzi schemes that they played in the shadows as if American's savings and investments were thier own personal gambling monies.

[elcojonu]

11:12 AM on 04/04/2009

Not all the Banks, you'right; but, just about all the LARGEST ones were.
I've always been a fan of smaller Banks and Credit Unions,
When it comes to Banks and too many other things to mention, SMALLER IS better.

[Jazzcomedian]

12:33 PM on 04/04/2009

However, they had to seize two credit unions last week as well. But it certainly appears that the smaller banks and credit unions are doing better.

[HyperInfluential]

11:26 AM on 04/04/2009

Yeah but that didn't happen by accident; the shady tricksters deliberately funded the campaigns of people they knew would remove financial regulations, and avoid putting new ones in place, so that they could form this shadow market. Maybe public campaign financing could have prevented all this, but probably the shadow financiers would have just used blackmail or something else instead. When robber barons are on the prowl, they stop at nothing to get what they want, and the only thing they fear is a pitchfork-wielding mob.

[ObjectiveRealist]

11:37 AM on 04/04/2009

Isn't it curious that after being caught in corruption with the finance industry, John McCain "redeemed himself" with a zeal for campaign finance reform that has proved utterly impotent? And now, he's obsessed with "earmark reform" as if that means the same thing as "fiscal responsibility" even though earmarks account for only about 1% to 3% of all spending. What a doosh bagel!

[motodude]

10:48 AM on 04/04/2009

I don't see the change Mr. Obama. You have coddled and protected the bankers while firing auto execs and making the unions change their contracts but bankers & AIG bonus contracts are sacrosanct. Your administration is filled with insiders making sure Wall St will not feel the consequences of its actions. You send trillions of dollars to bankers but barely a dime is making it to regular people. Where is our bailout? So is this really just change the oligarchy can believe in? Because it looks like a same US treasury give away to banks that Bush started.

[returnofthejedi]

11:04 AM on 04/04/2009

As someone that supported Mr Obama, I have never liked the bailout mentality for big business. I understand he wants to solve the Economic problems, but I don't agree that it can't be done without allowing the current class of economic bufoons to fail and leave the building. In order to build something new I have always believed you have to do away with the old. Maybe his Idea is to leave certain things in place but improve on others. We will just have to see which approach works best. Hopefully I'm wrong as it is Mr. Obama's idea that we will have to go with.

[bubbuh]

11:15 AM on 04/04/2009

Well, you could actually go to recovery.gov and look at the different contracts to see what has changed. You could look at the oversight infrastructure that is just now being put in place instead of last summer when it should have been. You might also read a little history. If you did, you would find out that FDR had to bail out the banks as well. He , too, built on a program put in place by his predecessor, although unlike Dubya's, Hoover's program did have adequate supervision. The problem with Hoover's program was that it stopped with the banks. For three years, he kept the banks solvent without testing them for financial health and without addressing the larger issues of economic health or employment. Obama and company are addressing employment. I could wish they would do more, more immediately instead of fiddling with the tax system. But, Obama doesn't have the luxury of a filibuster proof majority the way FDR did, not yet anyway.

[concernvoter]

10:43 AM on 04/04/2009

We just need to mind our own business and keep our head above water.

[returnofthejedi]

10:45 AM on 04/04/2009

Not a bad idea. However when someone attacks us it's hard to help retaliating. I mean that is a natural reaction.

[paixa3]

11:45 AM on 04/04/2009

You are correct. I wish that Obama would fire Summers and Geithner and get out of the way of the pitch forks.

The only opinion I will give from Europe is that we suspect that your politically correct, theoreticsal digital revolution is NOT working. You have been stuffed and are doing exactly NOTHING about it.

[windup]

09:09 AM on 04/04/2009

He 'expects them to change their ways"??!! But apparently won't force them with restrictions. Now the Treasury is doing an end run around the restrictions Congress voted to impose by making payments thru a third party.
What a disappointment this administration is turning out to be. With all the support he had going into office, he couldn't translate that into fighting the bankers who own and run this country. What a mistake and a let down for all of us.

[returnofthejedi]

09:31 AM on 04/04/2009

I think it's more like he is offering them a chance to change their ways. If they won't then they will lose just like Mcain, Clinton and the rest.

[jasper321]

09:39 AM on 04/04/2009

Amen brother!!

[returnofthejedi]

08:49 AM on 04/04/2009

I have a question for you haters,what is with the stupidity? Why when you are faced with good arguments, or cold hard facts do you retreat to childish idiotic behavior. For instance; Someone says George Bush inherted a surplus, but left us with a mountain of debt; you will come back with, yeah but you spelled mountain wrong, or something stupid like oh I have money and the debt is no concern to me. Why do you always try to respond to sense with nonsense do you know no other tactic? I gettired of destroying your stupid arguments.

[Dialogue]

08:57 AM on 04/04/2009

Sometimes, the "nonsense" statements you allude to by others may simply be capricious and arbitrary diatribes.

[qubit]

09:14 AM on 04/04/2009

STOP RE-WRITING HISTORY DRONES
The Clinton Manufacturing Recession - Bush inherited job-challenged economy
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/912636/posts

Zogby Poll: Obama Approval Ratings Sliding - Under 50% Now
http://townhall.com/Columnists/DonaldLambro/2009/03/31/outlier_zogby_poll_reveals_hard_truths?page=full&comments=true

[returnofthejedi]

09:28 AM on 04/04/2009

I don't understand how a person can manufacture a surplus and a deficit at the same time. Can you let us see YOUR calculator. No, you need to stop spreading lies on the net. Just like those rightwing sites you threw up there.

[returnofthejedi]

09:34 AM on 04/04/2009

This is exactly what i'm talking about. You are obviously wrong. you have nothing left to argue. The results are in and you still continue the ignorance. It's just apalling.

[Dialogue]

08:44 AM on 04/04/2009

Well now, lets just see. If a homeowner signed up for a mortgage, and the document was highly-complex and not easily understood, that homeowner may have grounds to seek legal council: That of signing a mortgage document under "Duress." In many mortgage documents, paragraphs and sentences can be constructed to have triple or quadruple-meaning. So even though a homebuyer thinks he has a clear understanding of the mortgage document, the bank or mortgage company will fight over the "clear" aspect of the mortgage. Guess who wrote the document, and knows the language used hiding behind the intent? Well lets just say its not the homebuyer, for homebuyers simply sign their name (repeatedly throughout the document) and date the document. Example: Billi Bo Bobbie Jr., April 4, 2009: A total of four words, written multiple times throughout the document. The bank or mortgage company wrote approximately 99.999% of the document, and yet, the document will claim this is an agreement equally contributed by two entities or parties. For many homeowners, these "GOTCHA" contracts are gouging not just the one who signed it, but the entire country, let's all face it.

[returnofthejedi]

09:10 AM on 04/04/2009

I think a lot of the guilty are right here this morning.

[eminent]

10:44 AM on 04/04/2009

agreed and I stand corrected with ref to one of my previous posts.also, the price of legal counsel then comes in to up the bill-catch 22.

[SgtLazarus]

08:42 AM on 04/04/2009

Obama To Bank CEOs: I'm "The Only Thing Between You And The Pitchforks"
- - - this man is a joke. I can't believe I wasted 5 minutes of my life to go and vote for him. Bailed out the rich and forgot all about the working class. --- 'tis the last time I take a politician seriously.
- - - i am already missing Bush. at least Junior never pretended to be anything but a joke.

[returnofthejedi]

08:43 AM on 04/04/2009

Your lying and it shows. You couldn't find a better job.

[canobserv]

10:59 AM on 04/04/2009

the fact that you stated that you are missing Bush....well....now I am concerned for your sanity

[greenrotgut]

07:50 AM on 04/04/2009

Threatening American CEOs - what is going through this man's head? What a fantastic ego. This is the exact same stuff Putin did in Russia.

[StephenJK]

08:16 AM on 04/04/2009

Merely a pathetic bit of populist window dressing. In other words: A joke.

[ObjectiveRealist]

11:47 AM on 04/04/2009

"Threatening"? He is reminding them who needs whom. Bailout _recipients_ are in no position to be offering any demands to The People, who are bailing them out of the consequences of their corruption and incompetence, via our President nor any other channel.