Obama Said to Have Unannounced Meeting With Financial Executives 2012-11-28 00:51:11.153 GMT (For more on the fiscal cliff, see EXT7.) By Julianna Goldman Nov. 27 (Bloomberg) -- President Barack Obamaâs efforts to engage business leaders in negotiations to avoid the year-end fiscal cliff have included unannounced private talks with top financial executives at the White House. On Nov. 16, the same day Obama met with congressional leaders, he sat down with about a dozen financial services executives in the Roosevelt Room, where they were meeting with senior administration officials including Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner. The session was part of a series of consultations Obama has had with outside groups aimed at pressuring Congress to strike a deal to avert more than $600 billion of automatic spending cuts and tax increases set to take effect in January. The group included Blackstone Group LP President Tony James; Evercore Partners Inc. chairman Roger Altman; Robert Wolf, chief executive officer of 32 Advisors LLC; Centerbridge Capital Partners LLC managing principal Mark Gallogly; Glenn Hutchins, co-founder of Silver Lake Management LLC; Marc Lasry, founder of Avenue Capital Group LLC; Blair Effron, co-founder of Centerview Partners LLC; and Orin Kramer, general partner at Boston Provident Partners LP, according to administration officials and a participant in the session. The meeting, held across from the Oval Office, wasnât on the presidentâs public schedule. He dropped in on the 90-minute session as it was about halfway through. Taxes and Cuts It was called by Valerie Jarrett, a senior adviser to the president, and among the other administration officials present were Vice President Joe Biden, National Economic Council Director Gene Sperling and Jeffrey Zients, acting director of the Office of Management and Budget, according to White House officials, who asked for anonymity because the meeting wasnât publicly announced. The talks included a discussion of cuts in entitlement programs such as Medicare and Medicaid. Obama emphasized his drive to extend existing tax rates for middle-income Americans while letting those for top earners rise when they expire at the end of the year, according to Wolf. âIn our meeting the president was clear that the numbers do not add up without the Bush tax extension ending for the top two percent,â said Wolf, former chairman of UBS Americas. âHe was equally clear that he thought giving clarity for the other 98 percent of the nation that they would not be paying higher taxes was critical in keeping confidence during the holiday season.â Staunch Supporters The president is scheduled to hold another meeting tomorrow with business leaders, including Goldman Sachs Group Inc. CEO Lloyd Blankfein. Many of the participants at the Nov. 16 meeting have been among Obamaâs staunchest supporters on Wall Street and top campaign donors. Biden briefed the group on talks earlier that day with House Speaker John Boehner, House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell. Obama also discussed the talks with congressional leaders, according to a participant, who described the meeting on condition of anonymity. For Related News and Information: Top Stories: TOP <GO> White House Stories: NI EXE <GO> --Editors: Joe Sobczyk, Michael Shepard To contact the reporter on this story: Julianna Goldman in Washington at +1-202-654-4304 or jgoldman6@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Steven Komarow at +1-202-654-4302 or skomarow1@bloomberg.net
I think its a good sign that he is meeting with the kingpins of capitalism-- I think a solution will happen and tax rates will remain the same--- but I have been wrong before.... surf
Politico is reporting today that they are close to a deal that will push entitlement reform to early next year and let the Bush tax cuts expire on those making 500K or more per year.
In Hank Paulson book, Paulson kept Obama up to date on the financial crisis prior to the election in 2008. Paulson felt obligated to share his expertise and very open. After Obama was elected, he never spoke to Paulson again. Paulson made no further comments about Obama's slight, but it was apparent that Paulson felt (not sure of the word here) not needed anymore. This being said, I'm not sure how much mister arrogant barry sotero will absorb in his narcissitic brain.
So... they raise taxes on the top 2%.... collect maybe $80B... that will reduce this year's deficit from $1.5B to $1.42B... Problem solved, see?
Ah... the "usual". Raise taxes NOW.... cuts later. (Somehow that second part always seems to get weaseld-out of.)
Dividend taxes may be increased to 43%---- this is bad, very bad.... I guess traders don't care, no investors here. surf