US President Barack Obama Wednesday announced new restrictions on the salaries of Wall Street executives seeking government aid and lambasted financial firms for shirking their responsibilities as the country suffers a severe recession, dpa reported.
Obama said executives from companies getting "exceptional assistance" from the government would be limited to a salary of 500,000 dollars per year, which Obama described as a "fraction" of the millions of dollars that top executives typically receive.
"We all need to take responsibility," Obama said at the White House. "This includes executives at major financial firms who turned to the American people, hat in hand, when they were in trouble, even as they paid themselves customary lavish bonuses."
A report by the New York State Comptroller last week said Wall Street firms paid out 18.4 billion dollars in cash bonuses during 2008, a 44-per-cent drop from 2007 but still the sixth-largest bonus year on record.
"We're going to be demanding some restraint in exchange for federal aid," Obama said.
The new administration plans to unveil a series of proposals next week to stabilize the US financial system that sparked the current recession. The cost of the new effort could run to 2 trillion dollars, according to US media reports.