And the pressure for action was only increased the following day, when the scandal erupted over bonuses paid to AIG’s senior staff. The president was furious. He wanted action. The nation’s top thirteen bank bosses were summoned to a meeting in the White House.14 At this moment there was a real fear on Wall Street that the Obama administration was about to go to war. Given how unpopular the banks were, it would have made good politics. But it didn’t happen.
