This wasn’t the biggest political story of the weekend, but I found it amusing.
When he addressed the annual awards dinner of American Banker, the trade newspaper, at the New York Palace Hotel last Wednesday, Representative Barney Frank of Massachusetts had one question:
“At the level of pay that those of you who run banks get, why the hell do you need bonuses to do the right thing?”
Undeterred by the deafening silence that greeted that remark, Mr. Frank, the senior Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee, added: “Do we really have to bribe you to do your jobs? I don’t get it. Think what you are telling the average worker, that you who are the most important people in the system and at the top, your salary isn’t enough, you need to be given an extra incentive to do your jobs right.”
He went on to warn the financial heavyweights — who had gathered to see James L. Dimon, president and chief operating officer of J. P. Morgan Chase, be named banker of the year — to show restraint in pressing for further deregulation.
Gotta love Barney Frank, unless of course, you were one of the wealthy bankers at that banquet last week. For some reason, the audience didn’t seem too fond of Frank’s comments.
But I can’t help but wonder: why on earth did the American Banker invite Frank to address its awards dinner in the first place?