White House photo by Samantha Appleton 01/14/10: President Obama calling for new bank fees.
Some “fat cats” on Wall Street got a rude whack upside the head from President Obama today. A tough talking Obama put the big banks on notice that he wants them to repay “every dime” of our money they got in that huge financial bailout. The president wants to slap the big banks with a fee designed to recoup perhaps as much as $117 billions over 12 years.
“And my determination to achieve this goal is only heightened when I see reports of massive profits and obscene bonuses at some of the very firms who owe their continued existence to the American people — folks who have not been made whole, and who continue to face real hardship in this recession.
We want our money back, and we’re going to get it. And that’s why I’m proposing a Financial Crisis Responsibility Fee to be imposed on major financial firms until the American people are fully compensated for the extraordinary assistance they provided to Wall Street. 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.”
The fee would only be levied against banks with more than $50 million in assets. More on the President’s Financial Crisis Responsibility Fee for banks on The White House blog and Reuters.
