This morning's news that President Barack Obama is breaking his vow to cap Wall Street salaries and bonuses gives the kindest of spins, adding that bonuses will still be subject to limits imposed by Congress.

Yeah, right. Obama's retreat from his February pledge to cap salaries at $500,000 for bailed-out firms means a return to normalcy on Wall Street a lot sooner than on Main Street. For one thing, Congress is much more susceptible to Wall Street's intensive lobbying, so don't expect the bonus limits to amount to much, no matter how full of bluster various members of Congress will be. The bonuses will amount to a lot. And now the salaries are off-limits to government control.

"Big Ed" Whitacre, the incoming chairman of GM, won't face salary restrictions anyway when the big automaker emerges from bankruptcy, according to the deal already worked out. And his new Detroit neighbors whom Fiat will import to run Chrysler won't have to limit themselves. But now Wall Street's big-shot bankers can rest easier, knowing that they can resume their practice of paying one another at a level very near the recent past, no matter what investors and critics say.

Today's WSJ story is headlined "Salaries Safe, Bonuses Hit," but the real story is a few paragraphs down: