Obama Slams Wall Street Bonuses

Obama has slammed Wall Street bonuses. Thank goodness.

“One point I want to make is that all of us are going to have responsibilities to get this economy moving again. And when I saw an article today indicating that Wall Street bankers had given themselves $20 billion worth of bonuses — the same amount of bonuses as they gave themselves in 2004 — at a time when most of these institutions were teetering on collapse and they are asking for taxpayers to help sustain them, and when taxpayers find themselves in the difficult position that if they don’t provide help that the entire system could come down on top of our heads — that is the height of irresponsibility. It is shameful.”

I agree fully. This $20 billion should be extracted back. TARP money should not be available to banks that dole it out in form of bonuses at this rate. For banks accessing TARP funds, I would even cap executive compensation.