Obama to Announce Fee on 20 Banks to Recoup TARP

Jan. 13 (Bloomberg) -- President Barack Obama will announce tomorrow his intention to impose a fee on roughly 20 of the country’s largest banks and financial institutions to help recoup taxpayer bailout money and trim the federal budget deficit.

Obama will outline his proposal to raise as much as $120 billion at 11:45 a.m. local time at the White House, Obama’s press secretary, Robert Gibbs, told reporters. Gibbs said the president’s economic team has worked on a structure to prevent the levy from being passed onto consumers.

The fees, expected to be spread over as many as 10 years, will be based on the leverage or amount of liability each firm has, according to an administration official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

The final cost of the fees will be based on total losses from the Troubled Asset Relief Program, which administration officials expect to drop from the current Treasury estimate of $120 billion. The White House declined to provide a list of banks that would be targeted.

The move may have a bigger political than fiscal impact. By including it in the budget message that he will send to Congress next month, the president is tapping into public anger over the bailouts of the financial and auto industries, executive bonuses as well as the deficit.

“The politics on this is really quite easy,” said Doug Elliott, a fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington and a former managing director at JPMorgan Chase & Co. “The public would be supportive of anything up to shooting and burning the bankers.”

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Comments

[gobias]

Some good news about banks...New Credit Card Legislation Goes into Effect in February 2010

http://www.thesunsfinancialdiary.com/personal-finance/credit-card-legislation-effect-february-2010/

My favorite change...For your convenience, your payment date will always fall on the same date of each month and will be at least 25 days from the closing date printed on your statement.

DB, see, the economic collapse did some good.

[gobias]

Associated Depressed...WASHINGTON – Challenged by a skeptical special commission, top Wall Street bankers apologized Wednesday for risky behavior that led to the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. But they still declared it seemed appropriate at the time.

Okay, they should get a one-time only apology bonus. It is only fair. That guy Blankfein gives me the heebee-jewbees.

[RecoverylessRecovery]

I always take whatever Obama says and automatically subtract 50% of it, based on his proven track record of lying between his teeth. Then I take another 25% out to account for his tendency to constantly shift positions on everything. I then remove yet another 20% based on his custom of saying ONE theng when he's overseas and ANOTHER when he talks to us.

The final 5% of what Obama says I find to be totally credible. As long as he's talking about the weather.