Obama to Banks: It’s Payback Time

On Monday at the White House, President Barack Obama reminded a group of big banking honchos (or “fat cats,” as he called them Sunday) about last year’s bailout and advised them to get busy helping the taxpayers who helped with their recovery. Well, good luck with that one.  —KA

BBC:

[The president] said US banks had received extraordinary assistance and demanded they show extraordinary commitment to rebuild the US economy.

[...] Monday’s meeting with executives from Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Chase and Citigroup, among others, came a day after the president said he had not run for office to help out “a bunch of fat cat bankers on Wall Street”.

‘Willing to fight’

In comments to reporters at the White House after the talks, Mr Obama criticised lobbyists for trying to stall his administration’s reform of the financial services sector.

And he warned that if they were “willing to fight common-sense consumer protection, that’s a fight I’m willing to have”.

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AP / Susan Walsh

President Barack Obama, meeting with leaders of the financial industry, described the talks Monday as “candid.”