In the mind of Obama some bank executives are more deserving of large bonuses than others.
Jake Tapper: As recently as just a few weeks ago, President Obama called massive Wall Street bonuses “obscene,” language that fit right in with his previous descriptions for them such as “the height of irresponsibility” and “shameful,” an “outrage” and a violation “our fundamental values.”
But in an interview published today with Bloomberg Business Week, the president struck a different note.
Asked about the $17 million bonus given to Jamie Dimon, the CEO of JPMorgan Chase & Co., and the $9 million bonuses going to Lloyd Blankfein, CEO of the Goldman Sachs Group Inc. CEO, the president said, “I know both those guys; they are very savvy businessmen. I, like most of the American people, don’t begrudge people success or wealth. That is part of the free-market system.”
He doesn’t begrudge wealth and success, as long as it’s distributed in the way he prescribes.
In the half-hour interview with Julianna Goldman and Mike Tackett, the president expressed approval for the fact that the Dimon and Blankfein bonuses were paid in stock, thus requiring “proven performance over a certain period of time as opposed to quarterly earnings.” The president called that a “fairer way of measuring CEO success and ultimately will make the performance of American businesses better.”
It also helps if the bankers are contributors to the president and his party.
One other note that occurs to me, for some context: Dimon is a Democratic contributor whom, the Wall Street Journal reported last week, is being wooed by Republicans, who are questioning why Wall Street executives give money to Democrats rather than to the Republicans who are trying to block President Obama’s push to enact financial regulatory reforms.
Tapper went on to report that House Minority Leader John Boehner is trying to woo Dimon to switch teams. Maybe that’s another reason Obama’s gone soft on big bonuses for his friends.
More here.
Update: See video of Obama in 2009 saying bonuses are a violation of “our fundamental values.”
