Obama to tax large banks to recoup TARP.

oreo

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Sep 15, 2008
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President Obama, striking an emphatic and populist tone, said Thursday that he is determined to recoup every dollar spent from the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program to rescue Wall Street firms with a new tax on the largest banks.

"We want our money and we're going to get it back," he said.

Obama described bank bonuses as "obscene" and said the new tax would cover a projected $117 billion shortfall in the government's financial crisis bailout fund.

"My determination to achieve this goal is only heightened when I see reports of massive profits and obscene bonuses at the very firms who owe their continued existence to the American people who have not been made whole, and who continue to face real hardship in this recession," Obama said.

In proposing the tax, Obama and his advisers are capitalizing on public antipathy toward banks blamed for causing the crisis, while at the same time addressing a desire to show progress toward reducing record federal deficits.

The president is proposing a levy of 15 basis points, or 15 percent, on the liabilities of large financial institutions. The tax, which officials are calling a "financial crisis responsibility fee," would apply only to financial companies with assets of more than $50 billion. Those firms -- estimated to amount to about 50 institutions -- would have to pay the fee even though many did not accept any taxpayer assistance and most others already paid back the government lent to them.

The administration expects that 60 percent of the revenue would come from the 10 largest firms. As proposed, the fee would go into effect June 30, 2010, and last at least 10 years.

Obama advisers believe the administration can make an argument that banks should tap their generous executive bonus pools for the fee instead of passing the cost on to consumers.

At issue is the net cost of TARP, the fund initiated by the Bush administration to help financial institutions get rid of toxic assets. The fund has since evolved, helping not only the banking sector, but also autos and homeowners.

Insurance conglomerate American International Group, the largest beneficiary with nearly $70 billion in bailouts, would have to pay the tax. But General Motors Co. and Chrysler Group LLC, whose $66 billion in government loans are not expected to be fully repaid, would not be subject to a tax.

Bankers did not hide their objections.

"Politics have overtaken the economics," said Scott Talbott, the chief lobbyist for the Financial Services Roundtable, a group representing large Wall Street institutions. "This is a punitive tax on companies that repaid TARP in full or never took TARP."

Jamie Dimon, chief executive of JPMorgan Chase & Co., speaking to reporters Wednesday before details of the tax were known, said: "Using tax policy to punish people is a bad idea."

"It would be very hard for the industry to pay for the auto companies," Dimon added. "I mean, at one point you have to be a little fair."

FOXNews.com - Obama to Bankers: 'We Want Our Money Back'

Listening to Obama speak about this--I have some questions:

1. Obama stated that the majority of TARP funds have already been paid back by these banks? So why a 10 year tax--when they have paid the majority in less than a year?
2. Obama again stated that lobbyists have been all over Washington D.C.--trying to fight regulation & have locked arms with the opposition party to stop new regulations on Wall Street. There are not enough republicans to stop anything in this congress. So I imagine that democrats are walking lock-step with these Wall Street banking lobbyists.
3. Obama again mentions outlandish bonuses given to executives at these banks. Then why did this administration include 64 million in AIG bonuses & 200+ million in Fannie/Freddie bonuses & stuck the American taxpayers for them when they included them in the 787 billion dollar stimulus bill?
4. Why is Fannie/Freddie exempt from this tax?
5. Are we going to add this tax to the bailed-out auto industry also?
6. Will large banks just add this tax to the cost to our loans & pass it onto the consumer? I know that answer--YES.

While I agree that new banking regulations need to be made on Wall Street--to stop these boom & bust periods--why hasn't this administration & overwhelming democrat congress enacted new regulations?

Your comments?
 
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hummmm mmmmm tha't what dumbo just said alright,, and the banks will just pass it on to the taxpayer,, so in effect dumbo has just taxed the American people.. way to go dumbo,, how creative you are.. NOT



use credit unions,, always,,
 
If you want your money back (President Obama, that is our money), I suggest you get it from the people that currently owe it. Taxing big banks just because it is politically okay, doesn't make it right. Little econ lesson Mr. President. Banks pass on things like this to their customers one way or another. The public will get to pay twice.
 
but the Banks have paid most of it back with interest. It is not the banks who are the bad guys here.

Now GM, Fannie and Freddy and AIG.... Those are sink holes. (They are also the big bads in the extravegent bonus thing too) But 0bama is not going after them.

Partly because he is smart enough to realize you can't sqeeze any more blood out of those stones, but mostly because he just wants to grab grab grab from any productive person he can
 
If you want your money back (President Obama, that is our money), I suggest you get it from the people that currently owe it. Taxing big banks just because it is politically okay, doesn't make it right. Little econ lesson Mr. President. Banks pass on things like this to their customers one way or another. The public will get to pay twice.

Not to mention that when they do pay it back, they're just blowing it on another social program somewhere, rather than against the debt we incurred because of it in the first place.
 
Yet another anti-business move by Obama Inc.

Initiate a bank tax under the guise of "getting our money back" even though the tax will be applied to banks who never took taxpayer money, or those who have already paid it back.

Utter bullshit Big Government power grabbing.

And yes, the cost of this will be passed on to the consumer, as well as further tighten the credit crunch, thus kicking small business down yet again.

Obama and these Democrats are utterly anti-American small business - and anti free market.
 
hummmm mmmmm tha't what dumbo just said alright,, and the banks will just pass it on to the taxpayer,, so in effect dumbo has just taxed the American people.. way to go dumbo,, how creative you are.. NOT



use credit unions,, always,,



Just heard also that Goldman-Sachs got 10 billion for their bail-out & have already paid back 11.1 billion making for a profit back to the U.S. treasury of 1.1 billion? Why should they be taxed?--:cuckoo:
 
It is not the banks who are the bad guys here.

Now GM, Fannie and Freddy and AIG.... Those are sink holes. (They are also the big bads in the extravegent bonus thing too) But 0bama is not going after them.

Wow. Now this is not even remotely true. I am going to call double bullshit. Frannie and Freddie held out for a long time before loosening lending requirements due to pressure from Wall Street to secure more loans to bundle. I totally agree with this penalty. I lost 1/2 the money in my 401K! Any bank who had anything to do with selling these exremely risky mortgage bundles SHOULD be punished. I was listening to NPR this morning when they were playing an excerpt from the investigation where the CEO from Goldman Sachs admitted that they were even betting against the securities. Someone should go to jail for that.

"Angelides pressed Blankfein on Goldman Sachs’s sale of mortgage-backed securities, its requests to the credit-rating companies for the highest rating while betting the securities will later fail."

Blankfein Defends Goldman Sachs Amid Grilling by Crisis Panel - BusinessWeek
 
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but the Banks have paid most of it back with interest. It is not the banks who are the bad guys here.

Now GM, Fannie and Freddy and AIG.... Those are sink holes. (They are also the big bads in the extravegent bonus thing too) But 0bama is not going after them.

Partly because he is smart enough to realize you can't sqeeze any more blood out of those stones, but mostly because he just wants to grab grab grab from any productive person he can

Supposedly GM will payback $6b. in the second quarter.
 
Umm, Obama can't tax anyone. The Constitution states that only the Congress can levy taxes:

US Constitution Annotated - Power to Tax and Spend
Section 8. Clause 1. The Congress shall have Power to lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States.
Awaiting outrage from the Left about Obama "Shredding the Constitution".



























(Crickets chirping)
 
but the Banks have paid most of it back with interest. It is not the banks who are the bad guys here.

Now GM, Fannie and Freddy and AIG.... Those are sink holes. (They are also the big bads in the extravegent bonus thing too) But 0bama is not going after them.

Partly because he is smart enough to realize you can't sqeeze any more blood out of those stones, but mostly because he just wants to grab grab grab from any productive person he can
DINGDINGDINGDING!!!!

We have a winner!!

Also, he wants to gin up outrage within the ranks of the ignorant and envious.
 
Obama called for fee's on the banks to recoup "Our" funds from the bailout. These fees are to be collected by the IRS. This begs to ask what fees do the IRS collect? Are those not taxes? Secondly, why are these fees being collected by banks who did want to take bail out money in the first place and who have already paid it back with interest. If the money is paid back, what additional fee can or should we collect from them?

Another important question we need to ask is why are we not collecting these fees from Fannie May and Freddie Mac as well as GM and Chrysler who have not paid back the funds and have little chance of ever being able to pay it back? Many of us on the right said those organizations should have been allowed to fail in the first place. We also said this bailout would essentially amount to the government taking them over but were told by the left that this was crazy.
On Christmas eve the Congress lifted the Debt ceiling on both Fannie and Freddie.

Last week on 1-5-2010 Barney Frank said, The two mortgage lenders are essentially a "public policy instrument of the government,".

Crazy huh?
 
I am not sure why the phrase "bill of attainder" has not been mentioned yet.
Why should banks, some of which didn't even take TARP money, get taxed while auto makers don't? It is so grossly unfair that I can't see it happening.
Obama is simply governing by polls, seeing which groups are most hated and trying to levy taxes on them.
 

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