The CEO Game

Close to addressing the banks, Obama goes after financial giants: Have you enjoyed the financial bailout package? Now lay off 90% of your salary.

Obama Fighting Financial Giants

Obama draws the sword: The US president has made a promise to chop down the salaries of leaders of the financial system and now he plans to keep it. In his efforts to revive the American economy, Obama has decided to give financial institutions a financial bailout package consisting of 700- 870 billion dollars according to experts’ estimations. Now he informed the companies which received the financial aid that they will have to cut down the huge bonuses they use to give their senior workers and the same goes for their salaries.

He made this statement prior to the soon-to-be revealment of his financial plan, which will force the bigger seven institutes, who used the most of the aid funds to give up 90% of the salaries of their 25 most senior workers. In addition, Kent Finberg, which was appointed by Obama to be the “pay czar” of the White House, has made plans that include measurements to be taken in the White House, where many senior officials and employees who enjoyed over the years high salaries will also have to give up half of the bonuses and compensations they deserve.

As of lately, he was tangled up with many problems yet to be solved and many hard dilemmas to cope with. As a democratic, liberal president he was elected and is expected to end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, but up to now nothing has changed. As a matter of fact, the situation have gotten worse, when everybody was talking about pulling the troops out of Afghanistan- he had to face decisions whether to send another 40,000 troops as requested by Army General Stanley McChrystal which claimed ‘More Troops Or Lose Afghan War‘. It wasn’t a win-lose situation but a situation which no matter what you choose you lose. Not to mention, the delay with finding a solution for a nuclear Iran, nor Guantanamo, nor any progress in the Middle East at all. No major progress was made with the health care legislation and the unemployment issue as well. When taking on a different front, a less frightening one, he also failed and lost the Olympic Games to Rio De Janiero. Don’t forget the worldwide criticism on his Nobel Prize win, with some critics blaming the Nobel Prize committee of being political and only that and some saying he was chosen only because he ain’t Bush. Some say, if all those occurrences were packed into a movie, the best title for it would be “Land of the lost”, imagine that.

Moreover, with the constant rise of the European Union’s power, a possible alliance of China and Japan and the demise of the dollar, which is just isn’t being bought enough, Obama needs this small time victory, it isn’t much but he needs to win at least in this financial war back at home, the US, since he isn’t scoring anywhere else right now.

Omer Shachnai

The CEO Game.

Barak Obama attacks US banks: When you needed, you were helped; now it’s your turn to give back.

The President of the US addressed all the banks that were helped during the ongoing financial crisis and requested them to return a favor. In his words, now it’s the time for the banks to do their part and chip in to help the financial recovery and give more credit to little businesses. He is practically saying, hey the US tax payer helped you bail out; now the time has come for you to give something back to the public.

Time For A Change?

Obama made this statement at his “weekly address” which is broadcasted live via the radio and the internet. In his speech, he commented that many business owners in America are having a hard time to get credit from the banks, even though the government had done a lot to improve the financial situation of the banks after the economic collapse in September 2008, which afterwards the banks stopped handing out loans for small and medium businesses.
“These are the very taxpayers who stood by America’s banks in a crisis, and now it’s time for our banks to stand by credit worthy small businesses and make the loans they need to open their doors, grow their operations and create new jobs” Obama said. He pointed out the White House is willing to take the steps needed to encourage the banks to give credit, but he didn’t mention what steps will be taken if at all. “It’s time for those banks to fulfill their responsibility to help ensure a wider recovery, a more secure system and more broadly shared prosperity” he added.

Earlier last week, Barak Obama criticized the American banks and financial institutes and claimed that they were working through Congress to try and sabotage his idea of a federal agency the “Consumer Financial Protection Agency”. Obama blamed them for “using every bit of influence they have to maintain the status quo” that has helped them get richer “at the expense of American consumers”. That is in spite of the fact that recently those same consumers helped them bail out as a consequence of their wrong decisions.

According to estimations, the financial bailout package cost taxpayers around 700 billion dollars. In his address last Saturday, Obama also said that small businesses have created two thirds of US new jobs over the last 15 years, thus making them a crucial part of the economy, that we must help to sustain- “they must be at the forefront of our recovery”, he said. In addition, last week, he asked Congress to increase the size of SBA loans (small business administration) and announced his rewarding plan: to give low interest loans to banks, who do help and agree to lend more money to small businesses.

When playing business simulation games, you can learn from these past mistakes and learn how to foresee the consequences of your actions. During the development of The CEO Game, we have kept in mind the financial crisis and have taken a great deal of effort in creating and simulating a vast real-life like economic system which generates and is influenced all the time by unplanned events and misfortunes, that every CEO has to cope with in order to succeed.

Omer Shachnai

The CEO Game.