Banks Need to Lend, not Lobby

Some of President Barack Obama’s top aides went on the offensive on the Sunday morning talk shows, firing a shot across the bow of Wall Street for its planned bonuses and its lobbying to weaken financial reforms proposed by the president.

The New York Times reports that White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel was sharply critical in his appearance on CNN’s State of the Union. He zeroed in on the fact that a year after the government rode to bankers’ rescue with a $700 billion bailout, some banks were planning to shell out big bonuses.

“The risks that they took took the economy to a place—it was near a depression,” Emanuel said. He also criticized banks for lobbying against a consumer financial-protection agency and various other regulations proposed by the administration. “They have a responsibility to be part of the solution, not being the obstacle.”

Obama political adviser David Axelrod, appearing on This Week on ABC, said the banks need to start lending more, especially to small business.

“There are a lot of small businesses, creditworthy businesses around this country, who still can’t get the capital they need to grow, which is important for our economy, and you’ve seen these same institutions spend tens of millions of dollars lobbying the Congress to try and stop financial regulatory reform,” he said.

Senator Christopher Dodd, Democrat of Connecticut and the chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, also zeroed in on bonuses for bankers.

“Now, obviously, when you see these bonuses being paid out, it’s a source of outrage in the country, and it should be. What are these people thinking about at these companies?” he asked, on Meet the Press.