Obama Scold Of The Day

By Bob Parks —— Bio and Archives January 30, 2009

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The President sure seems to like scolding someone on a daily basis. It must be nice to be The Man.

President Barack Obama lashed out on Thursday at “shameful” Wall Street executives for claiming billions of dollars in bonuses while their stricken institutions asked taxpayers for support. Mr Obama was responding to a report showing that financial sector employees received $18.4bn (£12.9bn) in bonuses last year, amid dire financial crisis. The figure was down 44 per cent from 2007 but was still the sixth largest payout in history.

Meanwhile, back at the White House…

Newly minted Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner’s finances got a recent boost, thanks to a plump $435,000 severance payment from his old employer – the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. In addition, Geithner last year earned $411,000 as president of the New York Fed and got another $50,000 to $100,000 for unused vacation and comp time, according to a mandatory financial disclosure statement released by the Office of Government Ethics.

Again, do we see a pattern here? Scold the public for one thing, do the same thing under the full power of government. One man's greed is another man's severance.