President Barack Obama is at it again, calling banks irresponsible, and threatening to hit them up with a new tax for the next 10 years.
“We want our money bank,” he declared, citing the “obscene bonuses” bankers paid themselves going into and coming out of the biggest banking crisis in generations.
So little has actually changed in the banking world. The too-big-to-fail banks are now even bigger. And the underlying problems of toxic debt, Byzantine securities, and record mortgage foreclosures continue. It makes you wonder if maybe Obama likes to chide the bankers in public, to appease the voters, but instantly becomes accomodating behind closed doors.
Many banks already have repaid their loans from the Troubled Asset Relief Fund, with profits to the U.S. Treasury. And the Federal Reservice Bank – which has been holding interest rates to record lows to keep the machinery lubed – recently reported its largest profits ever. Still, the wreckless behavior of our too-big-to-fail banks have helped rack up trillions in debt for the nation. And many of these banks would no longer exist were it not for taxpayer assistance.
Already, bank analysts are complaining that if the government taxes these banks, there will be even less money to lend. And of course whatever taxes banks have to pay simply get passed on in increased fees to consumers.
Consumers, however, are already getting sacked and lending remains tight. Additionally, our growing government is going to have to find increased reveneues from somewhere.
Banks – while worthy of Americans’ contempt – have great lobbists and will likely come out ahead before this latest proposal takes form. In the end, Congress and the President do not tell banks what to do. It’s the other way around.
