Wall Street and the Obama team. Lawrence Summers, a top economic adviser to President Barack Obama, was paid about $5.2 million in compensation from hedge fund D.E. Shaw during the past year, the Wall Street Journal said on its web site on Friday. In addition he was a frequent speaker at various Wall Street functions receiving high speakers fees.

Obama's chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, was paid over $16 million for 30 months of work for a Wall Street investment firm. He had no prior experience as a financial professional.

The deputy of Tim Geithner was a senior executive at Goldman Sachs.

Obama's erstwhile advisor, Bob Rubin, was co-chair of Goldman Sachs and chair of Citigroup before he left in a hurry to avoid more media attention on his $150 million pay off and his supervision of Citi's demise.

Tim Geithner himself worked for Kissinger Associates, a advisory firm to many of the large Wall Street firms.

The closeness of Wall Street and Obama's Administration is surely a relevant factor in understanding how the team shaped its rescue package that is skewed in favor of Wall Street firms.