Obama Doesn’t ‘Begrudge’ Bonuses for ‘Savvy’ Blankfein, Dimon

[The Northerner]

Feb. 10 (Bloomberg) -- President Barack Obama said he doesn’t “begrudge” the $17 million bonus awarded to JPMorgan Chase & Co. Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon or the $9 million issued to Goldman Sachs Group Inc. CEO Lloyd Blankfein, noting that some athletes take home more pay.

The president, speaking in an interview, said in response to a question that while $17 million is “an extraordinary amount of money” for Main Street, “there are some baseball players who are making more than that and don’t get to the World Series either, so I’m shocked by that as well.”

“I know both those guys; they are very savvy businessmen,” Obama said in the interview yesterday in the Oval Office with Bloomberg BusinessWeek, which will appear newsstands on Friday. “I, like most of the American people, don’t begrudge people success or wealth. That is part of the free- market system.”

Obama sought to combat perceptions that his administration is anti-business and trumpeted the influence corporate leaders have had on his economic policies. He plans to reiterate that message when he speaks to the Business Roundtable, which represents the heads of many of the biggest U.S. companies, on Feb. 24 in Washington.

Blankfein and Dimon took their bonuses in stock rather than cash, which Obama encouraged other corporations to do. Such compensation, he said, “requires proven performance over a certain period of time as opposed to quarterly earnings.” He said that’s a “fairer way of measuring CEO success and ultimately will make the performance of American businesses better.”

Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aKGZkktzkAlA

[msongs]

1. lol the millionaire class sticks together nt

[xiamiam]

2. oh well..nt

[Raschel]

3. No, he's debunking what the wacko right says about liberals.

I don't begrudge their wealth either. Just don't make your wealth of off bailouts and as long as we have regulations to protect the consumer, who cares.

It's because of deregulation, the merging of commercial banks, investment banks, and insurers all under Phil Gramm and the bush admin., that we are in the mess we are in right now. Repubs did away with protection Glass-Steagall which prevented banks and other trusts from merging into giant whores.

BTW the Glass-Steagall act was passed in 1933. So yeah the repukes set us back decades.

AND, our Pres took banks to task publicly just recently.

[enlightenment]

4. Baseball teams didn't get a huge taxpayer funded bailout.

Wall Street did. If President Obama considers finagling that bailout 'savvy' business that deserves a huge reward, he's not thinking very clearly.

[choie]

5. and that's the problem, right there..

n/t