Wall Street Damage Control

Paul Krugman's blog
NYT

So, via Greg Sargent and Sam Stein, the White House is trying to limit the damage from those Obama remarks about bankers’ compensation, providing more context. I wish I could say that it helps a lot; but it doesn’t.

Again: the president compares Wall Street paychecks to baseball players. That’s really bad messaging: first, baseball players didn’t trigger a global economic collapse, and second, the baseball industry isn’t the beneficiary of a massive and continuing taxpayer bailout (continuing because banks would be in deep trouble even now if it weren’t for the belief that they have a government backstop).

Yes, he said some things about making compensation better tied to results — but it was framed purely in terms of stockholder interests, with no mention, again, of the damage bankers have done and the public support they still require.

Sam Stein says that Obama has said somewhat similar things before. OK, although I wonder if that was in direct response to a question about Lloyd Blankfein. Moreover, on previous occasions he has also said something about Wall Street’s reliance on public bailouts; if that’s in this interview, it hasn’t been released.

(More here.)