VIDEO: Feb. 10 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. President Barack Obama says he doesnt begrudge the $17 million bonus awarded to JPMorgan Chase & Co. Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon or the $9 million issued to Goldman Sachs Group Inc. CEO Lloyd Blankfein, noting that some athletes take home more pay. Bloomberg's Julianna Goldman reports.
“I know both those guys; they are very savvy businessmen,” Obama said in the interview yesterday in the Oval Office with Bloomberg BusinessWeek, which will appear on newsstands Friday. “I, like most of the American people, don’t begrudge people success or wealth. That is part of the free- market system.”
Obama sought to combat perceptions that his administration is anti-business and trumpeted the influence corporate leaders have had on his economic policies. He plans to reiterate that message when he speaks to the Business Roundtable, which represents the heads of many of the biggest U.S. companies, on Feb. 24 in Washington.
“He wants to represent popular anger at the bailout and Wall Street pay, while at the same time trying not to alienate these guys, who he needs if he’s going to get reforms enacted,” Borges said. “Not an easy task.”
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