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<!-- headline one : start --><TR>Shame on you, Wall St: Obama
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><TR>CEOs blasted for taking almost same amount in bonuses as during boom </TR><!-- Author --><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Bhagyashree Garekar, US Correspondent
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Mr Obama (right), with Mr Geithner, intends to tell top US bankers to show restraint, discipline and some sense of responsibility. -- PHOTO: BLOOMBERG
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<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->WASHINGTON: United States President Barack Obama has delivered a stern rebuke to Wall Street chief executive officers (CEOs), calling it 'shameful' that they had awarded themselves billions in bonuses at a time when taxpayers were having to prop up the financial sector.
Wall Street firms handed out US$18.4 billion (S$27.7 billion) in bonuses as the US economy entered recession last year - about the same amount as in the boom of 2004.
<TABLE width=200 align=left valign="top"><TBODY><TR><TD class=padr8><!-- Vodcast --><!-- Background Story --><STYLE type=text/css> #related .quote {background-color:#E7F7FF; padding:8px;margin:0px 0px 5px 0px;} #related .quote .headline {font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size:10px;font-weight:bold; border-bottom:3px double #007BFF; color:#036; text-transform:uppercase; padding-bottom:5px;} #related .quote .text {font-size:11px;color:#036;padding:5px 0px;} </STYLE>A TIME FOR RESTRAINT
'There will be time for them to make profits, and there will be time for them to get bonuses. Now is not that time. And that's a message that I intend to send directly to them.'
President Obama, on Wall Street executives
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>Although last year's bonuses were 44 per cent lower than the previous year, they still amounted to the sixth-largest bonus payments ever.
'When most of these institutions were teetering on collapse and they are asking 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,' he said after meeting his economic advisers on Thursday. 'It is shameful.'
The President said he intends to raise the matter with Wall Street executives in the coming days.
'What we're going to need is for the folks on Wall Street who are asking for help to show some restraint, and show some discipline, and show some sense of responsibility,' he said.
'There will be time for them to make profits, and there will be time for them to get bonuses,' he said, with Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner by his side.
'Now is not that time. And that's a message that I intend to send directly to them.'
He said Mr Geithner had had to pull back one institution that had gone forward with a multimillion-dollar jet plane purchase at the same time as it received bailout funds.
The reference was to Citigroup's now- aborted plans for a US$50 million 12-seat luxury jet, as it received US$45 billion from the US$700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Programme funds intended to stabilise the financial sector.
'We shouldn't have to do that, because they should know better. And we will continue to send that message loud and clear,' said Mr Obama.
Some analysts, however, warn that government intervention is unwarranted. 'Not to say that the bonuses are justified, but compensation decisions are best left to the individual firms,' said Mr James Gattusso of the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think-tank.
'I am wary of the increasing trend of the government taking control of business decisions.'
Mr Obama's ire at the bankers comes as he weighs seeking more money for the financial stabilisation programme to avert bank failures, while public outrage grows at the perception that the bailout was enriching company shareholders and executives.
Unconfirmed reports say that new strategies to stabilise the banking sector will be unveiled next week.
Mr Obama said his team was working on a comprehensive, three-legged plan to rescue the economy.
Its elements are the US$825 billion fiscal-stimulus package, which will be debated by the Senate next week, measures to beef up the financial system and a programme to address the housing and foreclosure crisis.
The stimulus plan is 'only one leg of the stool', Mr Obama said. 'These other legs of the stool will be rolled out systematically in the coming weeks, so that the American people will have a clear sense of a comprehensive strategy designed to put people back to work, reopen businesses and get credit flowing again.' [email protected]
</TR>
<!-- headline one : start --><TR>Shame on you, Wall St: Obama
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><TR>CEOs blasted for taking almost same amount in bonuses as during boom </TR><!-- Author --><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Bhagyashree Garekar, US Correspondent
</TD></TR><!-- show image if available --><TR vAlign=bottom><TD width=330>
</TD><TD width=10>
Mr Obama (right), with Mr Geithner, intends to tell top US bankers to show restraint, discipline and some sense of responsibility. -- PHOTO: BLOOMBERG
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->WASHINGTON: United States President Barack Obama has delivered a stern rebuke to Wall Street chief executive officers (CEOs), calling it 'shameful' that they had awarded themselves billions in bonuses at a time when taxpayers were having to prop up the financial sector.
Wall Street firms handed out US$18.4 billion (S$27.7 billion) in bonuses as the US economy entered recession last year - about the same amount as in the boom of 2004.
<TABLE width=200 align=left valign="top"><TBODY><TR><TD class=padr8><!-- Vodcast --><!-- Background Story --><STYLE type=text/css> #related .quote {background-color:#E7F7FF; padding:8px;margin:0px 0px 5px 0px;} #related .quote .headline {font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size:10px;font-weight:bold; border-bottom:3px double #007BFF; color:#036; text-transform:uppercase; padding-bottom:5px;} #related .quote .text {font-size:11px;color:#036;padding:5px 0px;} </STYLE>A TIME FOR RESTRAINT
'There will be time for them to make profits, and there will be time for them to get bonuses. Now is not that time. And that's a message that I intend to send directly to them.'
President Obama, on Wall Street executives
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>Although last year's bonuses were 44 per cent lower than the previous year, they still amounted to the sixth-largest bonus payments ever.
'When most of these institutions were teetering on collapse and they are asking 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,' he said after meeting his economic advisers on Thursday. 'It is shameful.'
The President said he intends to raise the matter with Wall Street executives in the coming days.
'What we're going to need is for the folks on Wall Street who are asking for help to show some restraint, and show some discipline, and show some sense of responsibility,' he said.
'There will be time for them to make profits, and there will be time for them to get bonuses,' he said, with Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner by his side.
'Now is not that time. And that's a message that I intend to send directly to them.'
He said Mr Geithner had had to pull back one institution that had gone forward with a multimillion-dollar jet plane purchase at the same time as it received bailout funds.
The reference was to Citigroup's now- aborted plans for a US$50 million 12-seat luxury jet, as it received US$45 billion from the US$700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Programme funds intended to stabilise the financial sector.
'We shouldn't have to do that, because they should know better. And we will continue to send that message loud and clear,' said Mr Obama.
Some analysts, however, warn that government intervention is unwarranted. 'Not to say that the bonuses are justified, but compensation decisions are best left to the individual firms,' said Mr James Gattusso of the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think-tank.
'I am wary of the increasing trend of the government taking control of business decisions.'
Mr Obama's ire at the bankers comes as he weighs seeking more money for the financial stabilisation programme to avert bank failures, while public outrage grows at the perception that the bailout was enriching company shareholders and executives.
Unconfirmed reports say that new strategies to stabilise the banking sector will be unveiled next week.
Mr Obama said his team was working on a comprehensive, three-legged plan to rescue the economy.
Its elements are the US$825 billion fiscal-stimulus package, which will be debated by the Senate next week, measures to beef up the financial system and a programme to address the housing and foreclosure crisis.
The stimulus plan is 'only one leg of the stool', Mr Obama said. 'These other legs of the stool will be rolled out systematically in the coming weeks, so that the American people will have a clear sense of a comprehensive strategy designed to put people back to work, reopen businesses and get credit flowing again.' [email protected]
