Quote:
Originally Posted by skysidhe
WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama told banks Thursday they should pay a new tax to recoup the cost of bailing out foundering firms at the height of the financial crisis. "We want our money back," he said.
The tax, which would require congressional approval, would last at least 10 years and generate about $90 billion over the decade, according to administration estimates. "If these companies are in good enough shape to afford massive bonuses, they are surely in good enough shape to afford paying back every penny to taxpayers," Obama said.
Advisers believe the administration can make an argument that banks should tap their bonus pools for the fee instead of passing the cost on to consumers.
The proposed 0.15 percent tax on the liabilities of large financial institutions would apply only to those companies with assets of more than $50 billion — a group estimated at about 50. Administration officials estimate that 60 percent of the revenue would come from the 10 biggest ones.
WOW
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I have quite a few beefs with Obama, the biggest of which is, he didn't tackle regulation of banks etc., when he had a chance to get some REAL REFORM passed. Now there is a big fat chance in hell of getting anything real and meaningful through. Banks are still getting fat off the backs of taxpayers. We will never recoup all the money from them. They should have to pay back
not only what WE gave them, but also
what was LOST, as a result of their insane high stakes gambling.
He also stayed in the background during the whole healthcare debate and let it get out of control. Because of the way he did it (or rather didn't, since he was mostly absent), the crap that is getting through is, again, not real insurance reform. It is a big fat payoff, by taxpayers, to big insurance companies. (I admit I haven't been paying attention the past 2 weeks because I had surgery. But before that, the bill was crap.)
Upping the war in Afghanistan. We will never win that war. We cannot beat terrorism. Terrorism is a
tactic, and al qaeda and other fundamentalist anti-US groups operate now all over the globe. Spending all that money if Afghanistan is a mistake, especially since we need that money HERE, in our own country. The measures we are taking are simply to make citizens
feel better. (Like amping up airport security in certain countries. Terrorists aren't stupid. They will just get on planes in Britain or Sweden or some other country where the security is less.)
I really expected more when I voted for Obama. Maybe I'm jumping the gun, but I am really pretty disappointed. I thought by now we would have serious banking reform in place, a really good health care bill passed that covered everyone and lowered costs, and getting us OUT of the middle east.