McQuaig: Culture of greed under attack
Barack Obama may not get it but the SEC finally is taking actionPublished On Tue Apr 20 2010
By Linda McQuaig
Columnist Anyone hoping to see the financial titans of Wall Street brought to heel couldn't help but feel glum when Barack Obama defended the latest round of grotesquely large bank bonuses.
“I, like most of the American people, don't begrudge people success or wealth. That is part of the free-market system,” the president said in a recent interview with BusinessWeek, commenting on the multimillion-dollar bonuses paid earlier this year to Jamie Dimon, CEO of JP Morgan, and to Lloyd Blankfein, CEO of Goldman Sachs.
What was most disturbing about Obama's comment was his apparent belief that Wall Street in some way resembles a free market — rather than a sheltered casino where bankers can get incredibly rich playing the odds and count on government to bail them out when the wheel goes against them.
“I know both those guys,” said Obama, referring to Dimon and Blankfein. “They are very savvy businessmen.”
Of course, business savvy is easier to come by when government can be counted on to help in a pinch. For instance, following the 2008 financial meltdown — triggered in part by the actions of JP Morgan, Goldman and other big banks — JP Morgan got a temporary injection of $25 billion from U.S. taxpayers; Goldman got $10 billion. ........(more)
The complete piece is at:
http://www.thestar.com/opinion/article/797733--mcquaig-culture-of-greed-under-attack