Barack Obama praises 'savvy' Wall Street top dogs
President Barack Obama has praised the top two men on Wall Street as "savvy businessmen" and said he doesn't begrudge their pay.
In comments which are likely to leave opponents wonedering if he is in the pocket of his biggest contributors, Obama noted that some athletes earn more than either JP Morgan Chase chief executive Jamie Dimon or Goldman Sachs boss Lloyd Blankfein.
Dimon was paid $17 million (£10.9 million) for last year, while Blankfein is getting $9 million, much of it in stock.
The president said in an interview with Bloomberg BusinessWeek that although $17 million is "an extraordinary amount of money there are some baseball players who are making more.
"I, like most of the American people, don't begrudge people success or wealth."
Blankfein and Dimon took their bonuses in stock rather than cash, which Obama encouraged other corporations to do, saying it is a "fairer way of measuring CEO success".
Blankfein's payment is well shy of the Wall Street record $67.9 million he received in 2007. Dimon, who got a $27.8 million bonus for 2007 and a $1 million salary for 2008, received restricted stock units and options.
