After the president took to the airwaves last night to castigate the Wall Street “fat cats” who “don’t get it,” we imagined things would be a little awkward at today’s scheduled meeting between the president and the top CEOs of financial institutions. Turns out, it’s probably not even happening. According to the Atlantic’s Marc Ambinder’s Twitter page: Citi chair Richard Parsons, Morgan Stanley CEO John Mack, and Goldman Sachs’s Lloyd Blankfein (who one suspects was especially affronted by the comment given his chubby past) have all canceled on the president, citing “inclement weather.”
Daily Intel, observing bluish skies from outside her cubicle window, called Amtrak to see if there was in fact a problem on the Northeast Corridor: “Trains are running like three, four minutes late, but there’s no big delays,” an employee told us. While Weather.com shows clouds and fog on 95, it’s not severe enough to hinder a day trip.
Clearly, the weather is not a problem: It’s just relations between Wall Street and the White House that have frozen over.
Update: Indeed, JP Morgan’s Jamie Dimon, wanting to put his best face forward, “went down last night,” flew down this morning, according to a spokesperson.
Update: Or maybe flew in by company jet this morning, says the Journal, which reports that Blankfein, Mack and Parsons “participated via video conference.”
“Sorry your flight got held up,” Mr. Obama told the three during a brief photo opportunity.
We understand. Sometimes communicating with Amtrak Julie does feel like a massive undertaking.
