Wall Street Arrogance

In a rare moment, Obama displayed his obvious displeasure at recent news that Wall Street banks paid employees $18.4 billion in bonuses for 2008, saying:

"It is the height of irresponsibility. It is shameful, and part of what we are going to need is for the folks on Wall Street who are asking for help to show some restraint and show some discipline and show some sense of responsibility. The American people understand that we have got a big hole we have got to dig ourselves out of but they don't like the idea that people are digging a bigger hole."

At a time when taxpayers are being asked to digest two rounds of TARP at $350 billion each, an $825 billion stimulus package, and a $3 trillion plus "Good Bank, Bad Bank" plan, you wouldn't think this would need to be explained. The $4 billion payout to Merril Lynch employees (only a few days before their new owner, Bank of America, had to ask for more TARP money) illustrates the arrogance and greed on Wall Street.

By the way, the $18.4 billion is well below last year, but it's the sixth largest in history, and roughly equal to bonuses paid in 2004 when the stock market was soaring. It seems "pay for performance" is a foreign concept on Wall Street.

Obama really has his work cut out for him.