Three of Wall Street's "fattest cats" got stuck on a tarmac and missed the anticipated face-to-face with President Obama who publicly chastized the nation's top bankers a day ago.
Goldman Sachs chief executive Lloyd Blanfein, Morgan Stanley chief executive John Mack and Citigroup chairman Richard Parsons connected to the meeting via teleconference as foggy weather delayed their flight.
President Obama slammed bankers on CBS's 60 Minutes Sunday night, with blunt language that could set a contentious tone for his Monday meeting with the heads of the country's 12 largest banks.
"I did not run for office to be helping out a bunch of fat cat bankers of Wall Street," Obama said to correspondent Steve Kroft.
"They're still puzzled why is it that people are mad at the banks. Well, let's see, you guys are drawing down $10, $20 million bonuses after America went through the worst economic year that it's gone through in --in decades, and you guys caused the problem. And we've got 10 percent unemployment."
Today the President is expected to encourage J.P. Morgan's Jamie Dimon, Goldman Sach's Lloyd Blankfein and ten other top bankers to increase their lending to small businesses as a way to boost employment. While Obama will stick to his hard stance, he hopes to come to a fruitful agreement, White House deputy press secretary, Jennifer Psaki, told the Wall Street Journal.
Local
"The financial industry received extraordinary assistance from the government during the height of this crisis. They now have an extraordinary responsibility to help the economy. The president wants to have a productive conversation about ways we can work together," Psaki told the Journal.
Bankers are expected to protest mixed messages from government officials, who have asked banks to tighten up the loose lending practices that led to the financial crisis, while extending sufficient credit to small businesses in an effort to create more jobs, the Journal reported.
"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," a person who is helping prepare executives for the meeting, told the Associated Press.
The tension between the Obama administration and Wall Street has been ongoing since the President took office nearly a year ago. Top bankers have protested his installation of "pay czar" Kenneth Feinberg who has been taking on bonus pay since June.
Most recently, bankers have objected to the creation of a regulatory agency which will give the government the ability to dismantle failing banks. A bill which will create the Consumer Financial Protection Agency passed through the House of Representatives Friday, despite resistance from Republicans.
