Tensions flaring on corporate excesses
The president meets with bank executives and trade groups today to talk regulation, commercial loans and financial bailouts. Amanda Aronczyk reports on mounting tensions between Wall Street culture and the worried masses.
Cherry blossoms bloom on the grounds of the U.S. Capitol Building (Mark Wilson/Getty Images)
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TEXT OF STORY
Bob Moon: Later today, the president will be meeting with bank executives and trade groups. On the agenda: regulation, commercial loans and of course, financial bailouts. But as Amanda Aronczyk reports, it's the culture of Wall Street that's worrying the masses -- they're mad, and showing signs they're not gonna take it anymore.
Amanda Aronczyk: It's been a tense few weeks between Capitol Hill and the banking industry. White House press secretary Robert Gibbs says the uproar over corporate excess will certainly come up today.
Robert Gibbs: Obviously, they'll talk about stuff that's been in the news for, over the past several weeks. Compensation and bonuses and excesses like that.
The concern over bonuses has been distracting from the core issues. But as financial analyst Karen Shaw Petrou says, that's not what's surprising about the executives' visit:
Karen Shaw Petrou: These guys come and go all the time in and out of the White House, singly and in groups. That anyone cares is the really unusual aspect of the meeting.
Of course, it'd be hard not to care these days. As the president's press secretary points out:
Gibbs: Wall Street and Main Street, all of us are in the same boat. We're all in this together.
Gibbs also said the president will remind the bankers: What's good for them has to be good for the American people, too.
I'm Amanda Aronczyk for Marketplace.
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