Obama Summons Top Bankers to the White House
A White House official confirms the president has summoned bankers and other financial industry CEOs to meet with him early next week to discuss his efforts to grow the economy and create an environment for more hiring in the private sector.
The meeting will follow yesterday's speech in which he announced a number of proposals to create jobs in the face of government numbers showing 15.4-million unemployed nationwide. Half that number lost their jobs since the recession began two years ago.
One proposal would use some of the $200-billion in unspent money from the TARP bank bailout fund as loans to small businesses, to help them expand and hire new employees.
Mr. Obama will also use Monday's meeting to push for more support of his proposal to create a new regulatory system for the financial industry – which opposes the idea. The plan has so far made little progress in Congress.
