Obama, Top Bank Execs to Hold Meeting

(CBS/ AP)  President Barack Obama is asking bank executives to support his efforts to tighten the financial industry, while bankers are prepared to tell the president he should stop oversimplifying their concerns if he wants good-faith collaboration.

An hourlong meeting between the president and the nation's top financial firms was shaping up to be a tense White House encounter on Monday, not least because of Mr. Obama's description of bankers on the eve of the talks as "fat cats."

As CBS News senior White House correspondent Bill Plante reports, the bankers will likely get an earful from the president.

Administration officials described the meeting as a continuation of discussions the president initiated early in his tenure and the latest push for lenders to take greater responsibility as the nation combats an economic crisis that began on Wall Street.

Specifically: Wall Street should fall in line with Mr. Obama and back a proposal for a consumer protection agency that cleared the House last week.

"I did not run for office to be helping out a bunch of fat cat bankers on Wall Street," Mr. Obama told CBS's "60 Minutes" in an interview that broadcast Sunday.

More from President Obama on "60 Minutes":

Obama Defends Afghanistan Timetable
Transcript: President Obama, Part 1
Transcript: President Obama, Part 2
Obama Versus the "Fat Cats"
Obama: Gatecrashers Lapse "Won't Happen Again"
Obama: Senate Will Pass Health Bill by Christmas

Financial industry officials braced for Mr. Obama's tough tone. They planned to press a conciliatory message and highlight areas where they agree with the administration while smoothing over their differences.

But the executives also planned to stand up to the president on issues where they feel his statements oversimplify their positions - particularly the creation of the Consumer Financial Protection Agency - according to people familiar with their thinking who spoke anonymously because they were not authorized to discuss the plans.

"He can say what he wants, but we're not going to go back to the kind of lending that put us in this mess," said a person who is helping prepare executives for the meeting. A dozen executives were on the list of those coming, from Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Bank of New York Mellon Corp., Bank of America Corp., Citigroup Inc., U.S. Bancorp, JPMorgan Chase & Co., Morgan Stanley and more.

Bankers expected the regulatory overhaul to provide the meeting's most contentious moments. They believe the president has mischaracterized them as being against the new rules, when in fact they support the vast majority of the administration's proposals.

"These same banks who benefited from taxpayer assistance ... are fighting tooth and nail with their lobbyists up on Capitol Hill, fighting against financial regulatory control," Mr. Obama said in the "60 Minutes" interview.

One industry official said Mr. Obama is viewed as trying to paint the debate as either "You're with us or you're against us." The industry official said bankers did not view it that simply.

"We want him to know we have the same goals, but disagree about how to get there," the official said.

Bankers were planning to outline alternatives to the new consumer agency. Most lenders support strengthened consumer protections but believe the administration proposal would increase costs and create more gaps between regulators.

Administration officials said Mr. Obama would use a populist appeal when discussing pay for top executives at bailed-out institutions. Distaste for Wall Street remains high and Mr. Obama took a public shot at the banks in his interview.

"They're still puzzled why it is that people are mad at the banks," he said. "Well, let's see. You guys are drawing down 10, 20 million dollar bonuses after America went through the worst economic year ... in decades and you guys caused the problem."

Many firms have taken steps toward the administration's goals of tying pay to long-term performance and making sure companies do not encourage risky bets. Bowing to public outrage, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. announced Thursday that 30 top executives will receive long-term stock instead of cash for bonuses this year.

Other banks, including Citigroup Inc. and Bank of America Corp., are overhauling pay structures to focus on long-term success.

Bank officials contend they would be hurt competitively by strict pay limits, such as the 50 percent tax on bonuses that British officials approved last week.

Mr. Obama economic adviser Lawrence Summers said Sunday the president would have "a serious talk with the bankers.

"The country did incredible things for the banking industry," he said. "The bankers need to recognize that. They need to recognize that they've got obligations to the country after all that's been done for them, and there is a lot more they can do."

Summers spoke on ABC's "This Week."

[gunnyh1]

Sounds like a scam session...."Ok boys you know that I have to portray one thing and actually do the opposite...You understand right? It is called playing both sides to keep all them fools off balance. Now we have delayed these new rules we are working on for a while and we'll probably keep stringing them along for another two years or so. That gives you plenty of time to find any new loopholes that we'll make sure are in there. Meanwhile you boys are pulling about a dollar for every gallon of gas sold in the US for the past 14 months, so I expect to get my 15% of that for my next election. Thank god ole Billy had the good sense to rescind that outlawed side-betting thing quietly in 2000 when he was a lame duck or I never would have had enough money to run for President............

[comearound-2009]

The bankers are only part of the problem.The regulators should be in the meeting as well.They are the people who allowed negative amortization loans and other exotic lending practices to be promoted.People were put into these loans by loan servicing companies when their loans were sold.When Homecomings Financial took over from World Savings all of the loan were converted to negative amortization loans at higher interest rates and many people were victims of fraud during the transfer of these loans.The Office of Thrift Supervision,the agency assigned to regulate these companies,cannot be contacted directly and when you do contact them they start passing the buck.The Office of Thrift Supervision should be abolished like it was intended to be at the beginning of the year and John Bowman and Richard Denby should be put in the position of losing their houses and finding a job like millions of Americans that have been sucked into these transactions because of the inaction of the Office of Thrift Supervision.

[sjc_1]

Ever since the provision to buy stock was put into TARP, the banks were allowed to sell stock to the government rather than Troubled Assets (hence the name of the program). This allowed banks to keep bad loans on the books in the hopes that they would come back. This is what kept Japan in a 10 year long recession, let's not make the same mistake.

[kikamybutt]

Obama's came from people $100.00 at a time. hehehe ROFLMAO But not in 20121

[zootsuithap]

yeah, funneled from georgo sorrow to obama via project acorn. what a scam.

[th9876]

This is how he holds the big bankers accountable, has a closed door meeting with the fat cats. Yeah, right.

[skeezix06]

You're wrong. Most of Obama's money came from the corporations. That's why he's catering to them so much. Us? He ignores us because we're no longer relevant. Well, at least for another 3 years we aren't.

[starving1968-1]

http://www.opensecrets.org/pres08/summary.php?cycle=2008&cid=N00009638


Individual contributions:

$656,357,572

88% of ALL money donated to his campaign.



AGAIN: that's no claim that ANY republican can make.

[hartmanlord]

And then which crook are you going to vote for? Your choice is A or B!

[chanley54]

What we're seeing in this country is an even faster transfer of wealth from the "middle class" to a select few...

[hartmanlord]

The last time that wealth and income was so disportionately distributed was 1929. The problem is only a Great Depression, 15 years, starvation and a World War solved that!
There will never be a voluntary redistribution, so we will have to go through the pain and suffering to achieve the same results. I am a capitalist, but if the capitalist system is broke, don't wait until it collapses to fix it!
Higher taxes and a devaluation of their wealth are coming to the affluent either way.

[olskooltoo]

They are going to tell OBAMA we made you we can break you

[starving1968-1]

Obama won with the support of the people. Most of his donations came in the form of "$100 or less" from average, everyday, ordinary people.

That's not a claim that ANY republican can make.

[zootsuithap]

funneled from george sorros through acorn. a pathetic liar you are.