Wall Street's top bankers face plenty of scrutiny these days as they receive government bailouts. The US House Financial Services Committee has just held a hearing for eight bank CEOs. But instead of flying to the meetings in private jets, they chose to drive, or even uses public transportation.
The eight bank CEOs faced a grilling by lawmakers as public anger rises over the economic crisis. Banks also face mounting criticism over bonus systems rewarding executives for taking on irresponsible risks, while receiving billions of dollars in government money. Many of them are actively taking the blame for the financial crisis.
James Diamon, CEO of JP Morgan Chase, says, "Finally, today's economic crisis is the result of the mistakes of a lot of people, and all of us who are here today and many who are not, who have some responsibility for the current state of the markets."
LIoyd BlankFein Goldman Sachs admits the public does feel angry with them. These 8 top bankers took annual pay of between 600 thousand US dollars and 1.5 million US dollars for 2008. But none received dividends. Vikram Pandit, the one-year CEO of Citi Bank, even promised to take only one dollar as annual payment until the company makes a profit again.
John Mack, Chairman & CEO of Morgan Stanley, says, "we love what we do and if you gave me no bonus in the best year I would still be here."
Amid angry words, most members stayed calm at the hearing. Questions focused on whether these financial institutions have used taxpayer funds responsibly.
Even now, four months later, bailout watchdog groups say they don't fully understand what happened to the funds, or how much they helped to stabilize the financial system. And the public has become angry. These 8 financial institutions are the most important ones at present in the US. And while such hearings do not solve problem, at least they allow for anger to be vented.
(CCTV February 17, 2009)
