Anthony Hall
President Barack Obama tore into Wall Street bankers Sunday, connecting unemployment with the "fat cats" he blamed for the economic downturn.
Similar to the rallying cry heard in Britain last week that bankers "still don't get it," Obama said bankers were "puzzled why ... people are mad at banks. Well, let's see. You guys are drawing down $10 (million), $20 million bonuses after America went through the worst economic year that it's gone through in decades and you guys caused the problem. And we've got 10 percent unemployment."
"I did not run for office to be helping out a bunch of fat cat bankers on Wall Street," the President said in a "60 Minutes" interview.
Obama also lashed out against bank lobbyists he said were "fighting tooth and nail" to block financial regulatory controls to prevent future financial chaos, especially given the benefits of the massive taxpayer bailouts.
The interview was aired the day before Obama was scheduled to meet with bankers to discuss still lethargic lending.
Ed Yingling, president and chief executive officer of the American Bankers Association, meanwhile, said bankers at Monday's meeting will argue that financial firms are getting "mixed messages."
"They are told to lend more, but on the other hand here are existing policies and proposed policies that will inhibit lending," he said.
Less ambiguous are numbers, such as the 7.2 percent decline in lending from September 2008 to September 2009, The Washington Post reported. Business lending, not including construction loans, dropped 15 percent in the same period, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said.
Obama's remarks fall on the heels of a budget proposal in Britain that includes a one-time tax targeting bankers' bonus checks, a concept also under debate in France.
As unlikely as a punitive tax might be in the United States, Treasury Department pay czar Kenneth Feinberg last week announced pay restrictions for a second tier of executives at firms that received extraordinary assistance from the Trouble Asset Relief Program despite the shrinking number of executives his mandate covers.
Bank of America scrambled out from under the Treasury's thumb by paying back its government loans. Citigroup announced an agreement with the Treasury early Monday to pay back $20 billion, The New York Times reported.
Markets in Asia and Europe were mostly higher Monday as investors learned Abu Dhabi said it would cover $10 billion in debts it held for Dubai World, the financial arm of its neighbor Dubai, which announced in late November it would need to restructure $59 billion in debts.
Dubai said it would meet a $4.1 billion obligation due Monday and that it had enough funds "for interest expenses and company working capital through April 30, 2010 -- conditioned on the company being successful in negotiating a standstill as previously announced."
In Japan Monday, the Nikkei 225 index slipped 0.02 percent, while the Shanghai composite index in China rose 1.71 percent. The Hang Seng index in Hong Kong rose 0.84 percent, while the Sensex in India lost 0.13 percent.
The S&P/ASX 200 in Australia rose 0.41 percent.
In midday trading in Europe, the FTSE 100 in Britain added 0.75 percent, while the DAX 30 in Germany rose 0.81 percent. The CAC 40 in France rose 0.49 percent. The pan-European DJ Stoxx 50 rose 0.63 percent.
