Dodd Is Looking at ‘Every Means’ to Reclaim Bonuses

That will happen as soon as Sen.Dodd gives back the $75k he saved getting a mortgage with countrywide.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama believes the multibillion-dollar bonuses that Wall Street banks awarded themselves for 2008 are "outrageous", White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said on Thursday.

The New York Comptroller reported this week that Wall Street firms paid out $18.4 billion in bonuses to employees, despite receiving multibillion-dollar payouts from the government to save them from collapse in the face of the worst financial crisis in decades.

Gibbs told a news conference that Obama had a one-word reply when he heard of the reports: "outrageous".

http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2009/01/29/business/business-us-obama-bonuses.html

Counting....

Of course Dodd is going to go feign horror for PR's sake, but then do nothing about it. Well, that's par for the course. But at least this time perhaps Dodd's sabre-rattling will cause one or two i-bankers to think twice before putting that bonus towards another piece of overpriced Manhattan real estate.

Golly! He's so busy looking at "every means" to reclaim bonuses, he must have no time to draft legislation. Maybe a banking lobbyist can write that all that boring gobbledy-gook for him.

Dodd is a hipocritical liar...he has been the financial companies and hedge funds biggest toady along with Chuck Schumer

I could be wrong but I liken his grandstanding to the time OJ said he would spend the rest of his life looking for Nicole's murder.

I hope I am wrong and something more than a hearing happens

Dodd will never get the money back. Wall St. executives probably all bought real estate with it and then sold that RE to their kids for $100.

i think there's a chance everybody in wall street will have to delay their bonuses above $50k for 2010-2012

http://www.portfolio.com/news-markets/local-news/albuquerque/2009/01/28/report-bofa-to-delay-bonus-payments

Dodd may not do anything, but there's a good chance Obama will. Thankful that we finally have someone in the White House with brains, principles, and guts.

Don't blame Obama, not once did he ever say he would take on Pelosi. She punched, he ducked, we are fucked. Simple really.

flmd: Now Dodd. Never once did he say he is not a hypocrite. You can't blame somebody for sticking to their moral compass. I challenge anyone on this board, or any other for that matter to find one quote of Dodd's where he said he wasn't a hypocrite. It is just not fair to accuse someone I being something they never claimed they weren't.

patient09 I was not clear...I should have said he is a hypocrite and a liar. I never meant to accuse the august senator of lying about his hypocrisy...how is that?

fuming: Unfortuanetely, it looks like 2 out of 3 ain't bad. "guts", nah, he checked those at the door. Pelosi and Reid have guts, no matter how misguided.

At least someone is going to put pressure on Geithner, who is no more than Wall Street's patsy. Did you see him during Obama's comments yesterday? He looked like a concerned little boy: "How am I going to tell the big kids they can't pay their bonuses? They're going to stuff me in a locker again."

Geithner (an horrific choice) has been in Wall Street's pocket from the get-go. When I watch him, I see someone who so clearly aspires to be part of the club. We can only hope that Summers and Volcker are calling all the shots behind the scene.

Senator Dodd will be stopped cold in his tracks by Senator Schumer

Schumer defended these firms during the heyday, sure. But you really think he's going to defend these guys against the mobs? Think again.

Their key ally is Geithner. Bloomberg will fight for them as well.

I don't know if ANYONE wants to be on record fighting for them. I'm sure there will be some behind the scenes action, but I don't know if anybody who wants a political future will say "no, they deserve $18 billion".

There are few legal means to get the bonuses back. It's all a political stunt, and he knows it.