When Obama spoke of limiting executive salaries in financial receiving bailouts, executives squealed mightily about how they should have incentives to run their businesses.
http://www.bloomberg.com/...
Hit the jump:
As it happens, mere days after the Presidential announcement, at least two major banks have announced plans to repay the TARP funds they received. Goldman Sachs and Bank Of American both said they want to get government off their backs by returning TARP money sooner rather than later:
http://www.bloomberg.com/...
http://www.foxbusiness.com/...
We'll probably never know whether those decisions were directly affected by the President's announcement, but the timing is indicative:
February 3rd: salary caps rumored
February 4th: Salary caps in place
February 4th: Goldman announces repayment intentions
February 6th: Followed by BofA.
It looks as if Obama might understand how to motivate Wall Street types. Sometimes you need the stick to get their attention. What are they gonna do, send more money to the American Enterprise Institute?