16 January 2010

Now this is why we vote for Democrats

"We’re already hearing a hue and cry from Wall Street suggesting that this proposed fee is not only unwelcome but unfair.....that by some twisted logic it is more appropriate for the American people to bear the cost of the bailout rather than the industry that benefited from it, even though these executives are out there giving themselves huge bonuses.....What I say to these executives is this: Instead of sending a phalanx of lobbyists to fight this proposal or employing an army of lawyers and accountants to help evade the fee, I suggest you might want to consider simply meeting your responsibilities."


The subject of this strong language is a proposed fee, or tax, on financial institutions to recoup as much as possible of the federal money which was spent bailing them out and stabilizing them last year. The days of bonuses in six, seven, and even eight figures having returned, it's hard to argue that these institutions are still in fragile condition -- indeed, they're doing far better than the rest of the economy is doing in the wake of the recession they caused.

Small local banks would be exempt from the proposed tax, which would discourage the big institutions from simply passing along the cost to their customers -- since doing so would put them at a competitive disadvantage against the small banks.

There's some suggestion that the Republicans are nervous about opposing the tax plan, due to a fear of being seen as too blatantly in Wall Street's pocket. And some Democrats in both Houses of Congress want even tougher measures, such as a punitive tax on giant executive bonuses.

This is more like it, guys. Keep it up.

6 Comments:

Blogger Sue said...

sometimes the change is way too slow for the average person to see, but I believe Obama is going to change the way we do business. This man is the reason I vote for Democrats and I'm not ashamed to say I always will!

16 January, 2010 10:46  
Blogger SJ said...

EXACTLY.

Of course these greedy creeps would say something like this...

I am for once eager to hear what the Tea baggers and Fox News will have to offer in the way of opinion and analysis on this statement by President Obama...
Just how much hypocrisy can they engage in before even the last among their faithful believers concede the truth and stop playing along with the Right's ongoing charade.
-SJ

16 January, 2010 11:02  
Blogger TomCat said...

This does not go far enough, but it's a step in thre right direction, and it's about time@

16 January, 2010 11:38  
Blogger (O)CT(O)PUS said...

The tax has a twofold benefit. Recouping TARP funds is one; curbing excessive speculation by upping the ante on risk taking is the second. And cleverly packaged too ... just in case a finance reform bill fails in Congress ... there will at least be this.

16 January, 2010 13:51  
Blogger Tom Harper said...

"This is more like it, guys. Keep it up." My sentiments exactly. I've been really disappointed with Obama's leadership. I agree with most of his ideas but he needs to be more firm with Congress and stop letting himself get walked on by Republicans. He won the election and he needs to remember why.

I like this tax on large banks and I like the way Obama has framed it. Republicans who are against it will basically be saying "F#%!# those lowly working people."

16 January, 2010 15:04  
Blogger Infidel753 said...

Thanks for the comments, all. I do think the Democrats have a winning issue here.

I've had criticisms of Obama's leadership over the last year -- because of things he did that I didn't like, not because of things he failed to do (he has a rather lengthy to-do list in front of him). But he has greatly surpassed the expectations I had of him last year.

This video is a must-see for evaluating what the Democrats have accomplished in 2009.

16 January, 2010 17:03  

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