Obama, Banks Far Apart Despite Powwow

WASHINGTON (TheStreet) - President Obama met with top banking executives on Monday to goad them into supporting initiatives that may be helpful to consumers and businesses, but don't make a whole lot of sense for the financial sector. President Obama meets with banking executives Monday.

Unfortunately, the president and the banking industry appear to have nearly polar opposite rhetoric, if not polar opposite views. Ahead of the meeting, Obama told CBS's 60 Minutes that he "did not run for office to be helping out a bunch of fat cat bankers on Wall Street." Ouch. Compared with the financial industry's mostly respectful and sensitive tone -- except for Goldman CEO Lloyd Blankfein and Wells Fargo's (WFC Quote) one-time CEO Richard Kovacevich -- the assertion seemed neither mature nor productive. The financial industry has been besieged -- sometimes deservedly -- by accusations of greed, recklessness, smarminess and irresponsibility. In simple terms, banks have been bailed out by taxpayers to the tune of several hundred billion dollars, yet taxpayers are still suffering. Banks fueled the crisis with risky lending practices, and now they don't seem to want to lend at all. People are out of jobs and homes, yet bankers are plotting ways to get multi-million dollar bonuses again. However, the lending conundrum is more complex than sadistic loan officers who enjoy watching consumers and small-business owners suffer. It may be the best representation of the quintessential rock and a hard place that banks are now caught between.   Loading Comments...   < Previous 1 2 3 Next >

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