Showdown in DC: Who Made How Much
The CEOs of eight big banks appeared on Capitol Hill today to take a beating before the House Financial Services Committee. Not surprisingly, members of the committee spent much of the day squeezing in bits designed to earn points with constituents, an amusing reminder that the only thing worse than Wall Street chief executives taking taxpayer dollars to lavish them on employees are semi-literate Washington bureaucrats in cheap ties looking to score airtime on KWCH in Wichita.
You can read a full recap of what took place here, but above you'll find a clip of each CEO listing off how much bailout cash his bank received, and how much he took home last year in salary and bonus. (The only surprise was poor Vikram Pandit, who revealed that he plans to take just $1 in salary in 2009.) You'll have to excuse Rep. Dennis Moore for mispronouncing the names of Lloyd Blankfein and Jamie Dimon. Clearly it's a lot to ask of our leaders to take a moment to learn the names of the people they're trying to embarrass on national television. But Rep. Moore is from Kansas, after all, so he has a good excuse.
How Much Bank Execs Paid Themselves [Clusterstock]
Live-Blogging the Bankers' Showdown on Capitol Hill [Dealbook]
Congress Tells Bank Chiefs to Lend, Ease Public Anger [Bloomberg]