With Joe Lieberman's antics today this went unoticed

[AllentownJake]

Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, and JP Morgan's CEOs all decided that they didn't need to go to the White House today to discuss the economy with the President.

Nice to see how much respect and fear the President has put into the Wall Street Barons who caused the crisis.

[dave29]

1. Oh come on, they are the cowards, not him

and you know it.

[Enrique]

2. they didn't show up because they were afraid?

what were they afraid of?

[dave29]

4. edit -- I did not know they were on a call.

Way to frame the story.

[Clio the Leo]

7. Dying in a plane crash related to inclement weather. NT

[AllentownJake]

6. Publicly snubbing the President?

You think they were afraid to go to a conference. Geithner has these boys on speed dial.

[silverweb]

3. Kick.

Self-important pricks, the lot of them.

Their whole gambling racket is immoral and unethical, and should be banned (and I should live so long as to see that day).

:kick:

[Clio the Leo]

5. Kinda misstates what happened....

.... the only CEO who purposefully didn't attend was Citibanks .... the Goldman and JP Morgan CEO's were stuck in a fog delay (along with the Citibank chairman sent in the CEO's place) and couldn't get there in time. So they were all piped in via conference call (I heard them with my own little ears.)

I mean .... they're powerful but not so powerful that they can summon FOG at will. lol

Can they?

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1209/30568.html


Also...

REGRETFULLY: Citigroup CEO Vikram Pandit will not attend today's bankers' meeting with President Obama – the financial giant is sending its chairman, Richard Parsons, instead. Citigroup announced this morning that it will be repaying the government TARP money that it took during the financial meltdown last year.

"Mr. Pandit recognizes the extreme importance of today's meeting and regrets that he will be unable to attend due to today's announcement of Citi's actions for repaying TARP," said a Citi spokesperson. "Mr. Pandit has discussed the situation with the government, and Citigroup's Chairman Dick Parsons will attend on his behalf." -- Eamon Javers (9:53 a.m.).

THE FOG: Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein, Morgan Stanley CEO John Mack and Citigroup Chairman Richard Parsons are all stuck on the tarmac this morning as their airplanes wait out fog delays. It is not clear if they will make it to Washington in time to attend the 11:10 a.m. bankers' meeting with President Obama, says an industry source. The White House says the meeting will go on with or without them. "The meeting is moving forward as planned. We will have a full list of attendees shortly," said White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki.

MORE: Chairman Parsons's plane has been delayed in NY because of the fog and he is unable to arrive in Washington by the start of the meeting, a Citi spokesperson confirmed. -- Eamon Javers (10:38 a.m.)

STILL MORE: Blankfein, Mack and Parsons were all booked on commercial flights, the industry source said. JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon flew by private jet and will make the meeting on time. -- Eamon Javers (10:47 a.m.)

AND THERE IT IS: The White House just announced: "Due to inclement weather the following members of the financial services industry that were previously expected to participate are now unable to attend, but will be connected via conference call to the meeting" -- Blankfein, Mack and Parsons. (10:58 a.m.).

http://www.politico.com/politico44/wbarchive/whiteboard12152009.html


Ironically, the ones who flew in on PRIVATE JETS got there, the ones who were supposed to fly COMMERCIALLY did not. (Remember the big broo ha ha when the auto execs flew in on private planes? Or was it the bank execs? .... last spring)

[AllentownJake]

8. I live 60 miles from NY

There was no fog this morning.

[dave29]

9. LOL

.

[Clio the Leo]

10. So there was a mass conspiracy.....

.... which included the national media reporting fog delays all over the East Coast to cover for the bank execs?

Jake, sometimes you're spot on with your argument and then ....... sometimes ...... you're in a fog. ;)

http://www.wusa9.com/news/breaking/story.aspx?storyid=94915&catid=158

http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local-beat/Beauty-and-a-Beast-Fog-Fouls-Up-Air-Travel-79240927.html

[AllentownJake]

11. Just saying no fog this morning 55 miles south down I-78

[dave29]

12. link with pics... from DU no less (maybe the fog was not in NY)

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=433x57828

[Clio the Leo]

13. lol, well then it's a pity that the President doesn't live in NYC....

.... instead of DC ....... WHERE THE FOG WAS. :silly:


Of course I WILL concede that the report that there was fog came from an anonymous source. lol

For crying out loud! We're over here arguing about FOG! I've officially seen it all!! :rofl:

[Starbucks Anarchist]

33. Stupid facts making stupid sense.

:rofl: :toast:

[amborin]

35. someone de-bunked the weather excuse...posted airline arrivals, etc...no major delays in DC this am

[AllentownJake]

14. Ok I'll give 2 out of 3 a break for a "fog delay"

Truth be told, these people still aren't afraid of our President.

[dave29]

15. I think we've already figured out you think he loves these guys

he does not -- and that they love him. They do not.

[AllentownJake]

16. He took their money and has effectively done their bidding for a year

Show me evidence he doesn't love these guys.

[dave29]

17. why?

[AllentownJake]

18. because democrats have grown into a tradition of becoming very wealthy after

leaving Washington doing these guys favors while in office since the 1980s.

[dave29]

19. I meant why argue with you, we do not agree on this subject even remotely.

You think the stimulus and TARP were wrong, I think they were terrible but necessary. The stimulus has helped me directly. My brother, my best friend's brother are now working, when they were not for almost a year. Your kneejerk post on this (implying these guys skipped the meeting) pretty much clears up any confusion on where you stand here. You like the idea that Obama has bought into the limousine liberal mold, I think he is making the terrible decisions one has to make when faced with complete and utter destruction left by the previous President.

You believe Obama to be unprincipled, bereft of spine and a lackluster leader.

I think you don't even know how fog works, but I do salute the work you have done for Democrats.

[AllentownJake]

20. He has 3 years till I knock on doors for his primary challenger

and I look forward to it.

[dave29]

21. Yeah, that's pretty much obvious, Jake

What will you do when that person lets you down in less than 10 months?

:shrug:

[AllentownJake]

22. I'm taking with me my picture with him from the campaign

Gives me a little credibility :-)

[dave29]

23. Yeah that'll really convince them you know how to pick 'em

you do that...

[AllentownJake]

24. Funny thing is

The Obama people did that with former Hillary people in PA...don't know if it was effective, they sure thought it would be. They kept it under 10 so I'm guessing they knew somewhat, what they were doing politically.

So I thank them in advance for the idea.

Oh that was the primary.

[dave29]

29. that was their mistake long term, I suppose

they thought Democrats would pull together

[AllentownJake]

31. Actually in the PA primary

They did more to encourage long term party divisiveness than anything. The we are running against the PA democratic machine has been incredibly destructive since they left town.

It isn't going to get better with two competitive primaries next year and Joe Sestak taking up that language.

Irony of Ironies is that Bob Casey was the PA democratic machine till Ed Rendell knocked him off in 02.

[bvar22]

25. If Obama wants to talk Goldmund Sachs et al,....

...he needs to make an appointment and wait his turn.

They DEMAND, Obama performs....just like the Health Insurance Cartels.

Sad really.

I would LOVE to see them try that with LBJ or FDR.

[boppers]

26. fear? FEAR?

Last I checked, this was a democracy, not a socialist dictatorship.

[AllentownJake]

27. I appreciate it when business has a healthy fear of government

and that occurs in a democracy with good regulations. But thanks for playing that card.

[boppers]

28. In a democracy with good regulations, fear isn't needed.

Your statement is akin to saying:

"I appreciate it when citizens have a healthy fear of government, and that occurs in a democracy with good regulations."

There's nothing healthy about fear. If the government is feared by the people, the equation is wrong.

[AllentownJake]

30. When you are doing unethical things, some that are outright illegal

and you have no fear of being brought to task for your actions, you live in a society that encourages sociopathic behavior. Don't be surprised when sociopaths reach the top of society.

[boppers]

34. I can agree with that.... BUT:

I don't think businesses or people are inherently sociopathic, though. I work for a 50-person private company where part of the employment compact is that volunteering, charitable giving, and building the community, is all pretty much *required* to maintain employment (seriously, we have charts with everybody's name, and little paper stars for social contribution next to everyone's names.... not a joke).

From the company core values:
"3. Change the world - We may ski a little out of control and mountain bike a little too close to the trees, but we'll take calculated risks to drive positive change. We're conscious of the social impact of our actions and active participants in the well-being of our community, company, and families."

Next week's project is adopting families for the holidays, my team is working out stuff for a family of 9 (7 kids, 3 disabled). We only have a company supplied $700 budget, but we're using our networks to try and magnify the dollar amount.

We generally try to do 1-2 company-wide social projects a week, plus any other individual staffer projects we can find. This works out for the company because the staff is more productive, can break the grind of their normal work, and brings new ideas and experiences back to the table. Sort of like google asking their staff to spend 20% of their work hours on "whatever", but we are asked to spend 20% on "positive social change".

Should this business fear the government stepping in, and saying we're not being productive enough? That staffers are being discriminated against if they don't believe in charity? Why should this business live in fear?

[GreenTea]

32. No respect for a democrat...but would of dropped everything for Bush or any republican

because republicans love corporate deregulation and allow corporations to run wild, cheat, pollute, steal and allow them to do as they please, with no prosecution or responsibility attached. While grabbing all the government subsidies, incentives, tax cuts and tax breaks the republicans can give them....along with setting them a table for tax payers bailout money when the slimy greedy corporate fucks want even more tax dollars without any repercussions.

[cornermouse]

36. I saw it Jake. I just didn't think anyone on DU would care.

I also saw something about 2 or 3 million job openings, I think it was, and 15.2 million people looking for jobs in the nation.

[WT Fuheck]

37. The Assistant VP of deregulation doesn't get to tell the CEO

what meetings to attend.

Obama did call them "fat cats" a couple of days ago. That's the meanest thing he's done to a bank since the election.

[jasi2006]

38. If MAIN STREET get its act together, they can rattle Wall Street.

problem is, "main strett" doesn't know who they are and how much power they really have. The last presidential election should have shown them. Instead they come out running to their respective corners instead of getting in the ring and boxing.