I'm sorry I couldn't help but LAUGH HYSTERICALLY at these circus clowns on Capitol Hill. They have to be the BIGGEST IDIOTS on this planet. 'THEY don't have a CLUE what they're doing! And I thought the Bush administration was the worst. I am being proven wrong as the days and weeks and months pass! Please read this article and you will understand why. I say no more politicians with law degree's. We need people representing us in Washington who have degree's in Business, Finance, Economics and actual business experience! "One option under consideration involves placing a fee on a bank's liabilities." How is this possible when 'THEY' should know that the FEDERAL RESERVE allows banks to move some of their liabilities, mostly the JUNK, OFF their BALANCE SHEETS!!! That is what got us ALL in this mess to begin with! They are so stupid in even considering that option. Moreover, they're stupid for charging a fee to the banks PERIOD. Why? Because the banks will inevitably passed that fee down to ALL OF US! ARGH!
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The Wall Street Journal
written by Deborah Solomon and Damian Paletta
Tuesday January 12, 2010
WASHINGTON -- The Obama administration is aiming to hit banks with a fee to recoup losses associated with the government's bailout of financial firms and the auto industry, administration officials say.
The White House hopes the fee will soothe the public's anger at financial firms. Most big banks that received public funds have repaid the government, but the industry is seen by many as having survived thanks to taxpayer support, and is now enjoying a profit rebound as the economy struggles. This month, many large banks will resume paying big bonuses to employees.
Much remains uncertain about how such a fee would work. The administration is wrestling with who should pay, when it should be implemented and what would happen if banks pay more than the government-bailout program ultimately loses. Auto makers aren't currently targets of the fee idea.
Even though the proposal is still under discussion, it is expected to be included in the White House's budget, due next month, if only conceptually. It's expected to cost large banks billions of dollars and could also affect bank customers if firms pass along the cost.
One option under consideration involves placing a fee on a bank's liabilities, a number that theoretically represents the amount of risk a bank takes on, according to officials familiar with the matter. That approach would also have the effect of tamping down banks' risky behavior, another administration goal. Another option would be to target bank profits, these people said.
A person familiar with the matter said it would make little sense to impose a fee on auto makers or AIG right now: The government owns such a large chunk of them, it would essentially result in the government paying itself.
The fee would likely be designed to avoid hitting certain segments of the financial industry, such as community banks, many of which are still struggling. The administration is trying to structure the fee so that it can't be passed along to bank customers already struggling in the weak economy, but officials concede that's hard to do. In other areas, such as overdraft fees and credit cards, banks already are passing costs of new legislation on to their customers.
"In our industry, costs are typically passed along to institutions and individual investors, so the burden will likely fall on them," said Timothy Ryan, president of the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association. Major banks declined to comment.
The administration has been talking for months about recouping government funds likely lost through the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program, as it is required to do under the legislation that created the program. The Treasury Department estimates LOSSES from the program at $120 billion, though administration officials believe the ultimate cost will be much lower. [BULLSH*T!]
The fee, which would require congressional approval, could hit big banks that have already repaid their TARP funds with interest. The money would be used to compensate for losses in other areas, such as loans to Detroit's auto makers and funds used to prop up the housing sector and giant insurer AIG.
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