President Obama told U.S. banks today, “We want our money back and we’re going to get it.” His solution is to propose a fee on large financial institutions. His suggested bank tax is an effort to curb plans for huge bonuses at the very businesses that U.S. taxpayers bailed out last year.
CATO’s Mark Calabria, for one, thinks the plan is misguided. First, he points out that TARP, unlike say the $800 billion stimulus, was supposed to be turning a profit. And he argues that the amount collected from the banks won’t come close to making a dent in reducing the deficit. “Assessing bank fees is nothing more than a rounding error in terms of the deficit,” Calabria claims. Lastly, he rightly points out that any fees assessed by the government will actually come out of the pockets of customers and shareholders, not the CEOs.
Exactly what message is President Obama trying to send?