CBO Warns Obama’s Proposed Bank Fee Could End Up Costing Consumers

This fee is a good idea. It will return more of the taxpayer’s money. Whether those banks raise their interest rates will be controlled by their competitors, people do shop around for the best rates! As to the employees getting smaller bonuses, it is much more fair for them to, rather than the taxpayer to not be paid back. In all the boom banking years, those employees directly benefitted from the shenanigans that caused the banking meltdown years later.
This fee is a great idea!

If the President had any economic sense, heck, even a high school level course, he would already know this!

I believe most of these banks are in the process of or have already paid back their TARP money. Why did the President say we need a special fee to ‘get our money back”? It seems we already have gotten it back plus interest. Maybe the fee needs to go on the auto companies who haven’t paid it back yet or perhaps on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Does this surprise anyone? If Obama said that he was going to “hit” retailers with a new sales tax (they’re the ones who cut the check) would you believe him? The only place money goes into a corporation is via the prices it charges its customers. If anyone, anywhere, including the government, is taking money out, then the customers are paying for it.

In response to the CBO analysis, Grassley released a statement, saying, “A lot of analysts have said banks would pass the fees onto their customers. The CBO analysis confirms this and adds a lot of points for consideration from a very credible source. Before this proposal moves forward, Congress needs to understand the consequences, good or bad.”
Sure. And since when has Congress ever cared to understand the consequences, good or bad, before they vote to do something. Wouldn’t that make too much sense?

When he did all of his stupid regulatory reforms, my interest rate on my balance almost doubled. Thanks for nothing Obama (One Big *** Mistake America!) The guy is a Communist clown.

This is where the intelligent consumer doesn’t pay more, but goes to their local bank or credit union for the better rates and superior service!
I mean it, teach them a lesson that greed doesn’t pay if they try to sucker their customers into paying their debt.
Folks, the big banks should pay us back every cent that was borrowed plus interest. It is their greed that almost brought our economy, as well as other nations (by selling them garbage packaged as if it was gold) to the breaking point. For every bit of the misery they caused, they owe us a lot more than paying back what they borrowed.
Think about it. Think about all the money people lost when the stocks went down, the businesses that closed, the high unemployment, all due to those banks unmitigated greed.
Paying us back the money we lent them is the least they should do!

I WANT MY MONEY BACK FROM THE CAR COMPANIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I just have to ask, are there any conservative Republicans any more? Why the heck should the taxpayers take a hit for the very same people who got us into this mess?
I miss the kind of Republicans we had pre-Reagan.

Good grief! Are the lunatics running the asylum? Of course the banks are going to pass the fees on to the consumers. Where the heck are they going to get the $$ to pay the fees unless from their customers? A STUDY was done to come to that OBVIOUS CONCLUSION? Heaven help us.

The federal government is being run by a bunch of morons. Way overdue to give them all the boot.

And the “hits” just keep on coming! Are we to believe that Obama doesn’t know these these “fees” won’t just result in higher costs for the consumer?

Well I guess all you morons on here will NOT be complaining when the bank DO NOT pay us back our money.
I for one, am very happy that President Obama is trying to get back our money from banks who got bailouts for the US government !
If we do not try to get back the money, the bansk will think that they have nothing to lose next
time a bank crisis rolls around.

No surprise the Republicans are on the side of the Banks – After all, it is the BUSH ADMINISTARTION bailed the banks out in 2008 !!

“The cost of the proposed fee would ultimately be borne to varying degrees by an institution’s customers, employees, and investors,” the CBO said today in a letter to Sen. Chuck Grassley.
One thing we know for sure. The executives at the top of the food chain at these banks (or any other large corporation) are not going to give up ANYTHING. Grassley and the CBO is spot on about who will pay for this.

Quick notes:
1. The “bailout” is a series of loans, not gifts to financial intitutions so they are already paying 5% intrest on the funds.
2. Most of the proposed fees would be levied on banks that did not take any money or has already paid it back plus intrest. (i.e. Wells Fargo who paid us 1.42 billion in intrest in just over a year before paying back all 25 billion in “bailout” funds)
3. Taking money from many banks who did not benefit from “free” gov money or did not participate in TARP to “pay back” what they owe is intelectually dishonest…even for democrats.
Posted by: matt | Mar 4, 2010 7:23:42 PM
First know what you are talking about before you start spreading lies and fear ONLY BANKS THE STOLE MONEY FROM THE TAX PAYERS WOULD HAVE TO PAY THE FEE

If you don’t think the banks will pass through the tax to customers…well, there’s no hope for you. And won’t that tax be a very nice change, indeed.
Posted by: KarlJay | Mar 4, 2010 7:25:38 PM
Well then by all means lets let them continue to hold the american taxpayers hostage. You must be a republican but let me ask you this while you people have been spreading Obamas a socalist fear. Giving privet buisness tay payer money is the very definition of socalisim And since Bush is the one that did just that and he is a republican then it would seem that the republicans are the ones that are imposing socialisim. I tell you what you want ot give the banks and AIG your hard earned money go right ahead support the republicans casue thats exacally what they do.

KarlJay; I’ll get a copy…some of this stuff is just too contrarian for rational explanation….i.e. government imposed fees => increased cost of doing business => lower profits => passed on costs……all with no bank regulation…I can’t get my mind around it. Why doesn’t the government just nationalize the banks? Either that or provide guidelines for where fee costs will come from in order to protect the consumer.

Under a Republican administration, we just gave the banks billions of dollars after they almost trashed the world’s economy. Why do they automatically get to charge fees to protect the people whose money they lost and who bailed them out? How do they pay for it? Simple-cut executive bonuses.

“This is what republicans want. A complete free for all.” Yeah, but sure seems it’s Obama that’s enabling them!

This is news?? — EVERYTHING Obama or the Dem congress does costs the taxpayer!!!

basic economics – Businesses DO NOT pay taxes, consumers PAY taxes (because the business has to pass that cost along to the consumer in order to STAY in business).

Sarah — only congress can spend the people’s money — there was a Democrat-controled congress, AND almost all of them voted for the bailouts!!

Wow the DNC people on here tonight are either very ignorant or are trying to spread lies.

Problem in the first place was the gov’t priced the loans too cheaply and generously in the 1st place. Amazed at the lack of ignorance on here about how corporate finance works. Most of the banks could not have raised the capital on the private market last year and the few that did (Goldman Sachs with Buffet) paid a much greater price than the very generous terms the federal gov’t gave. Hell, if you look at the difference between the interest loan rate in TARP and the 10-year Treasury yields, this was essentially like giving the banks an interest-free loan and sticking the tax payer with the outstanding balance and administration bees.
What crazy lender gives a bankrupt company a loan in the first place and one that is essentially interest free? The answer is no one and a number of banks would have failed in the process last year. Even Goldman Sachs would have been incredibly pressured in that market contrarily to the BS that their CEO was selling earlier this year in front on of Congress.
Now the banks are playing the old “we’ll just pass the fees” along to the customers rouse which is true in part but not entirely. Banks just want to have to play for the administration costs of the program which were substantial nor pay a more fair market price for the nearly interest-free loans they were given by TARP. Let’s also not forget that TARP is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of what the Fed did to keep banks afloat too. It was really just a small part of the overall effort.

I love how stupid twits blame Bush for the spending the dems have done since 2006.
Posted by: QED | Mar 4, 2010 8:13:24 PM
I love how stupid twits blame the Dems for Bush’s disastrous economic policy, failing to realize they took over the leadership of Congress in 2007.
Check out Bruce Bartlett’s article in Daily Beast about the GOP’s misplaced rage.

Jimmy Obama needs to cover the losses from AIG, GM, Fannie and Freddie by hitting up the banks with a fee when they have repaid TARP in full and with a $19b profit. He should be celebrating that fact as his only true accomplishment since coming into office. This guy is great at reading Axelrod’s words off a prompter but that is about it. There truly is no there, there with this guy. “But he isn’t wearing any clothes at all.”

No doubt the corrupt wall street banking machine will figure out a way to screw their customers/sheep out every dime they can without and any government intervention.

Let’s review for those who don’t remotely understand this:
“Let’s review. Feds force, yes force, institutions to take our money.”
If these institutions (e.g., Citibank, Wachovia, etc) you are talking about would have failed exactly like Lehman did. We still have no idea exactly what their balance sheets really look like because there has been and still isn’t clarity about what types of exposure and how it is structured on off-balance sheet transactions. This is what caused Lehman to fail in the first place.
“but also including the federal government. Institutions pay it back with interest.”
Again just go look at deal that Buffet did with Goldman last fall. He drove an incredibly tough bargain and took some incredibly lucrative terms that were much richer than the federal gov’t and has additional options for future positions. The federal gov’t essentially gave the banks an interest-free loan because of the rates and the Treasury yields. If the banks had gotten deals like they did with Buffet (and they wouldn’t have because the private sector knew these institutions were doomed with federal backing), they would have paid interst that was 3x more than what they paid to the federal gov’t.
“Institutions pass on costs to consumers. Surprised? I’m not.”
Do you actually read the article or are you a stooge who listens to everything you hear on Fox News. If this fee is instituted, the people it would hurt the most are the employees and shareholders. The banks and financial institutions that didn’t take TARP funds would be better positioned and take a degree of business from the large banks that borrowed from TARP. That is how capitalism is supposed to work. Not this BS where the taxpayers give the banks essentially a free line of credit even though there was a crazy risk premium attached and still have to eat a substantial portion of the costs of the program.

“No doubt the corrupt wall street banking machine”
Good Lord, open your brain. You ALWAYS have the option of not obtaining the service or product which a private company offers and if it is too bad the companies will go under.
Try that with the government and they put you in jail. That is the difference. The government doesn’t ask you for your taxes they levy them then simply take them from your bank account.
The business of government is taking your money and spending it in ways that ppeople like Nancy Pelosi and Barry Obama want. The level of corruption in ggovernment is 10x the level in private iindustry and much of the “corruption” which has caused our current trouble was introduced by govenment do-gooders like Barney Frank imposing rules for riskier lending to “cure” social injustice.

‘Barney Frank imposing rules for riskier lending to “cure” social injustice.”
This is the kind of tripe you see at CPAC recently. There is a big problem with institutions like Feddie and Freddie Mae given their quasi-governmental status and there is plenty of evidence that their impact since their creation has been marginal on home mortgage rates (about 0.25-0.50 on mortgage interest rates according to research) and has distorted the mark to encourage banks to take on riskier loans (banks were never directly required to get into subprime but they wanted to compete with Fannie/Freddie Mae).
Still, the federal gov’t had nothing to do with banks structuring the off-balance sheet transactions and vehicles which are really at root of this financial crisis. There is no transparency, no regulation, and little/no liquidity requirements on them. It is essentially legalized gambling and was done on nearly every type of financial transaction the last 10 years since Glass-Steagall was repealed in ’99. You are just now seeing this play out in commercial real estate and a few other areas.
Keep spouting off though about stuff you really don’t understand or had a really poor education from college on if you are in finance in the business world.

Any of us common folk could see this “pass-along” coming- but then we are not as smart as the President, are we? Yea, right!

Very Short Lesson…..
The last four letters in American………I Can
The last four letters in Republican…….I Can
The last four letters in Democrats……..Rats
End of Lesson!
OBAMA VS AMERICA

“Your presumption that the shareholders and employees will take the brunt of the $200B penalty is based on what? It’s silly.”
CBO said the fee would slightly lower the supply of credit with no direct fees on consumers likely and strengthen the competitive position of smaller banks. The fee would probably not have a measurable impact on U.S. economic growth.
That is exactly what is in the CBO response to Grassley’s letter on Jan. 15th that asked the CBO to analyze this. The reason that Grassley is doing this is because he is the ranking minority member on the Committee for Finance in the Senate and the big banks who have generously supported Grassley like the status quo and don’t want to see small banks who didn’t have access to TARP funds be in a better position. That’s is what this is about. Grassley doesn’t care if it sticks taxpayers with $100B. He is just looking out for the vested interests of one of his most important constituencies.
If you truly were a Chicago School advocate as so many free marketers support, then you would have let these banks fail wholesale and risked the systematic chaos that would have potentially come with it. Instead it is a reverse Robin Hood approach that has been occurring since the days of LTCM’s failure in the 90s and the quiet covering up most U.S. banks failures due to the Latin American currency crises in the late 80s.
It stinks rotten and we have got to stop this disaster-style capitalism. Both parties are to blame although some of the Republicans like John Shelby (a stooge for the ABA and FST) are the loudest critics against greater solvency requirements, regulation of CDS, etc.

Someone in this country needs to be able to make a profit without being targeted by the president. They are the ones who will be hiring the new employees. Otherwise the investment capital will go elsewhere along with the jobs.

BO is an okole puka. Obviously he never met an Economics class he could pass. He needs to attend an Economics 101 and make sure he fully understands the basics before he lets his tiger mouth overload his humming bird rear end.

Obama needs to go. Millions of people will be out of work IF this idiotic health care DEform bill goes through. How many more people need to be unemployed before it becomes a bigger problem I wonder?

If Pres. Obama had had ANY business experience AT ALL, he would have know that corporations do not pay taxes or “fees”. These are always passed through to the customer (as it should be in business).
Isn’t it amazing that America has chosen a president who has never even worked as a clerk in a 7-11 store… and put him in charge of our entire economy.
We are now seeing that Obama doesn’t have a clue and isn’t even smart enough to surround himself with people who do have a clue!
It’s going to be a LONG three more years!

REMEMBER what happened when they made the cigarette companies pay billions? The very next day, cigarettes went up 65 cents a pack (or about 40%).
Even if you don’t care that cigarettes were targeted… because you don’t smoke… YOUR tax is coming. It may be bank fees, soda tax, carbon tax, water… etc. Yours is coming, too.

So what else is new? Barack Obama wants to suffocate the American people in taxes, regulations, fees, laws, mediocre health care, government-owned auto companies, unstable banks, you name it. He is a socialist dog that needs to be slapped down, just like any other bad dog. I hope we can make it to 2010. If we don’t make a serious change in Congress, I’m afraid we are doomed to be slaves of a totalitarian dictatorship. Not joking.

There are no pots of money sitting around waiting for government to tap and “give back” to the people.
Every tax is paid by the consumer. If the government levies a tax, fee, whatever on an “evil corporation”, it will be passed on to the consumer.
The huge debt that is being run up by the Government will ultimately be paid by the citizen.
Unfortunately, the end is near. The tech bubble burst, the housing bubble burst… the debt bubble is about to burst…
The tidal wave of debt that is about to wash over our economy will carry all in its destructive wake. No one will escape the consequences, not one, and least of all, you.
Pay off your debts, acquire things with intrinsic value, learn a trade. The future is bleak…

Realize that this extra fee only goes to TARP recipients. So those banks that did not get bailout money will NOT have these higher fees. Which means that those banks that didn’t take taxpayer money should have lower costs, which means lower fees to consumers, which means they should be able to take customers away from the big TARP recipients who you and I bailed out.
That may not be all bad. It *would* be bad if we were prohibited from moving our bank accounts to another lower cost bank. But we’re not.
I’m as much a free market guy as anyone. But as far as I’m concerned, the moment a bank took taxpayer bailout money, it was no longer a “free market”. It was a government supported market. The bankers were capitalists when it came to profits, but suddenly they became socialists when they started getting pounded with losses. Well, they can’t go back.
If this fee applies only to firms that begged for your money and mine to bail them out after they squandered their own capital, then I’m fine with it.

Gee, do you really think that there is a connection between direct costs that a corporation must pay and what they must charge their customer for their product….DUH, look at the automakers as they kept losing profit margin and were hemmed in by the competitive market. Eureka ! Just get rid of the competitive market and we can look like the USSR after a few years.

I guess the future looks better when we run up our credit cards buying junk, and remain unskilled?
Posted by: Skip | Mar 4, 2010 11:31:47 PM
——
I don’t think so, but I’m willing to keep an open mind. Why don’t you try it for a few years and report back…?

Clueless in the White House.

Duh!?!?!??!
The laws of Economics are fairly rigid…. until you inject totalitarianism!

Yea, no tax increases on anyone under $250000! Barry is just a liar! What BS!

WH, please understand that the consumer will ultimately end up paying for your “EGO”.

I find two things interesting about this:
1) Republicans wholeheartedly embrace a CBO analysis when it tells them what they want to hear, and they reject the analyses from these same nonpartisan analysts when they aren’t what they want to hear… According to Republicans, the CBO — which has said that healthcare reform will REDUCE the deficit — has no credibility about healthcare. But, their credibility is paramount when it comes to bank fees? That’s curious, to say the least. I’m amazed how, among Republicans, the CBO’s credibility is issue-dependent. [Here's a hint: the CBO always gives impartial analyses. Sometimes you'll like them; sometimes you won't.]
2) It’s funny that the media has allow Republicans to perpetuate the charge that healthcare reform will “raise the deficit,” when the CBO has explicitly stated otherwise. The media has followed the Republican approach to the CBO: when it comes to healthcare, what the CBO says doesn’t matter much. But, when it comes to bank fees, the CBO is unquestionably right.
Bottom line: Republicans and the media should pick a side. Either you believe CBO analyses or you don’t. If you believe the CBO about bank fees, you should accept their analyses about healthcare reform. Those CBO healthcare analyses show that people would be able to afford more comprehensive insurance at a lower price, and healthcare reform would LOWER the deficit.

Davis,
Forget the CBO. Do you really, in your head of heads, think that a massive new federal entitlement is going to save money in the long run? Really? Really?

Everything Obama does costs us money! Probably even the cigarettes on his desk.

Comprehensive Health Care,
Affordable Health Care,
Universal Health Care.
PICK ANY TWO.

I don’t care what the CBO says – common sense tells me that it isn’t the companies that pay the taxes and other fees that government puts on them and that this was a yet another simplistic idea targetted towards a slow-witted demographic out for blood. Does anyone actually think that it’s the merchant who really pays the tariffs, taxes, and fees when he decides on a selling price on his merchandise? The fact that most of these banks have already paid back the money that they borrowed from teh government plus interest, fining the banks to “get our money back” comes out of our pockets, not the CEOs and not the banks’.

Barack Hussien Obama mmmm….mmmm….mmmm…

I don’t care what the CBO says – common sense tells me that it isn’t the companies that pay the taxes and other fees that government puts on them and that this was a yet another simplistic idea targeted towards a slow-witted demographic out for blood. Does anyone actually think that it’s the merchant who really pays the tariffs, taxes, and fees when he decides on a selling price
***************************************
You are one of about 1% of the people in America who actually gets it in this regard. Government imposed fees, taxes and tariffs are ALWAYS past along to the consumer in the form of higher prices. Not sometimes but ALWAYS.

Government imposed fees, taxes and tariffs are ALWAYS past along to the consumer in the form of higher prices. Not sometimes but ALWAYS.
Posted by: Joseph | Mar 5, 2010 4:57:31 AM
__________________________________
Not true – those additional fees can also be absorbed in reduced bonuses for executives, cost efficiencies exercised by the company, trimmed waste within the company, innovative solutions, products and so on . . .

Funny, isn’t it, that every FIX simply ends up putting more money in government’s coffers? Hate tobacco companies, make them fork over billions to the government. Hate oil companies, impose an excessive-profits tax…to the government. Want “free” health care, impose taxes on insurers and medical device companies! Hate bankers, hit ‘em with big new fees payable to the government.
I swear, I think every Washington meeting starts out asking 2 questions:
—Which industry has unfavorable news coverage today?
—How much can we tax them?

Look at all the Republicans RUSHING TO DEFEND the corporations!
If the too-big-to-fail banks pass the cost of the bailout fee on to consumers, THIS IS JUST AN OPPORTUNITY for smaller banks to pick up some more customers.
Try logic!

—How much can we tax them?
Posted by: jeanneb | Mar 5, 2010 5:42:00 AM
_________________________________
The Republican administration under George Bush doubled the national debt and then presided over the collapse of the economy exploded the deficits (and the national debt) even further.
Of course there will be taxes on those who can afford it – where did the Republicans think all that money would come from? Macdonalds workers?

Duh.

What do people expect, if a business can’t pass cost on then it shut the doors. If a business has large cost imposed on them then they will not pay any income taxes. All I hear is tax, tax, tax, tax, and the government has increased their agency budgets by 18% since the no nothing about business president, which his appointees are only 8% from business sector, has done since being in office. I am an Independent and I did not vote for Bush either. Both parties are full of idiots.

More fear mongering by the banks. If they can give billions in bonuses, then they should be taxed higher. Customers need to get tough with these banks and stop taking it like wimps. Just close out your accounts and move them to local community banks or credit unions. When they stop giving up billions in bonuses, then they can cry broke. Don’t see that happening anytime soon.

He is going to get our money back, but he is going to charge those banks that have already paid back their loans. Maybe he should focus more on the auto companies and their loans. After all, the auto companies were also “too big to fail”. To think that any additional taxes or fees won’t be passed to individuals doing business with those banks is pure blindness to reality.

The fees are already here. I opened up a checking account at a bank yesterday and they did away with the free checking accounts and was told because of the government fees being imposed on them starting this April. So the cheapest checking account fee was 3.95 with the highest being 15.00 per month.

If the banks are going to remain profitable for the owners (not the government) and share holders, all price increases will be passed on to the customers – as it is in every other business. The government does it by raising taxe rates.

Any tax on anyone or anything is always passed to the consumer in the form of higher prices. The CEO will not allow his stockholders to absorb the cost of anything. Not if he wants to keep his job. He certainly isn’t going to give up his bonus or cut the pay of his buddies at the top. He’ll make employees work fewer hours for lower pay and get fewer benefits. He’ll either lay off workers or fail to hire new employees.
Consumers will absorb most of any tax in higher prices and fees. According to Sen. Feinstein D-California some health insurance companies have already increased premiums as much as 39% in anticipation of tax increases on health care policies. What happens to the price of gasoline every time the oil company gets a new tax? Think Exxon and BP are going to lower their profit margin? Not quite. Same thing with banks but their increase will affect everthing you buy.
Did anyone really believe that Obama was going to give bonuses to those top executives without sending us the bill?
Don’t blame me, I voted for the other guy.

Wait…slapping fees, regulations and taxes on struggling businesses has adverse consequences for the consumers?
GET THE HECK OUTTA HERE!

“Not true – those additional fees can also be absorbed in reduced bonuses for executives, cost efficiencies exercised by the company, trimmed waste within the company, innovative solutions, products and so on . . .”
Posted by tierra 5:11 AM
Do you need to buy some eh waterfront property???

Here is another reason why you should join the Movement to FIRE WASHINGTON, NO MORE CAREER POLITICIANS to be elected ever again. Lets take back Washington and get rid of all the DEMOCRAT and REPUBLICIAN INCUMBENTS. This is our chance to take back America from the POWER BASE IN WASHINGTON.

Again our President isn’t letting anything like the Constitution bother his his plans. Never mind that the tax is in all likelihood illegal. He knows and does not care that it will be passed on to the consumer. This has nothing to do with getting Money Back. This has to do with Obama’s only real political skill, SCAPEGOATING. He has done nothing productive in his career, His only skill is pointing at someone else and calling them a Bad Guy. Remember when he said Insurance Companies made Obscene Profits? Then ABC reported that they made about 6% (more than some businesses but less than most.)
As an Independent let me again say Democrats, the lunatic fringe you have that is running your party is destroying you

“Obama’s Proposed Bank Fee Could End Up Costing Consumers”
Could?… could?, of course it will be paid for by the consumers.
EVERY increase in taxes and fees is passed down the line, and in the end the consumer, you and I Joe Blow,end up paying. This is why the value of our incomes keeps falling, why our cost of living always is outstripped by our outgoings, because there is a constant rise in our everyday cost. When oh when are we going to get a government that truly cares about the ordinary folk?

Recession is when your neighbor is unemployed.
Depression is when you are unemployed.
Recovery is when Obama is unemployed.

What about punishing the greedy SOB’s in Gov, they are the cause of all the problems in the USA. Its not our Gov’s responsibility to “provide” “protect our finances” “make sure we are healthy” “make sure we dont hurt ourselves” grow up and take some responsibility for your own actions people! Quit using the Gov to “Protect” you from all the evils of the world.

That’s fine. The bad boys of banking need to be sent a message, because consumers will pay, one way or the other, anyway. They always do.

What do you expect from a man who does not Know what PE ratio is, and his cronies
don’t pay their taxes. THEY DON’T CARE!
Progressives do not care. It is about power.

When will people grow up and figure out that everything this President proposes will eventually “cost the consumer”. NO ONE RIDES FOR FREE. Every plan has a cost, every cost has a payer, and when did the US Government ever make or create a single dollar of income? Every single penny spent is ours. Baaaaa Baaaa get along little sheeple.

The man is an organizer. That means he takes what is available, and allegedly redistributes it throughout the community. It’s what he does. It’s all he’s ever done. It’s a perfect sample or communism in it’s highest form. The people elected a communist for President and then cry about his plans for our future. His plans and Lenin’s plans are the same plans. Take from thos that have and give to thos that don’t. Make those that don’t subservient to those that have. It’s so basic and simple.

Duh… is anybody surprised??? Oil countries jack-up the cost of oil to the oil companies and “we” pay at the pumps for our fuel and when businesses pay more for fuel to stock their shelves, “we” pay more for their products. Cap-n-Trade will place additional fees/taxes on businesses & utility companies & in turn those fees will be added to our utility bills, etc. Gov’t mandates small businesses, etc. to provide health insurance or face penalties and those costs will be passed to consumer’s. Mandatory (free) Health Insurance for another 30+ million people and “we” will pay for that as well, despite the continuance of “our” already struggling to cover our own families premiums… Somebody’s going to pay thru this form of trickle-down economics and it will be us. SO, when the BANKS are accessed additional fees, who do you think they will pass the fee’s onto? It will be “us” again, despite our already having “bailed them out… Just like the auto manufacturer’s bailout.. we save their butt’s and our ROI is paying more for a new car to keep from being accessed penalties for NOT having a Green-enough vehicle adding to Gore’s Global CO2 claims. I believe they call that “double-dipping”. So America, if you are too blind to see what is happening, then I guess “we” deserve the consequences of our “blind faith”

OMG! You mean corporations pass government fees thru to customers? That’s amazing. So that means Corporations don’t pay taxes/fees, their customers do. Hard to believe. But remember, no tax increases on anyone earning under $250k/yr.

ELECTIONS have CONSEQUENCES and we are living it every day!!! How’ the HOPE & CHANGE many voted for in Nov. 2008!!! Is it working for YOU, Y E T ???

Irish2dabone-In my opinion, you are dead on right. Very nicely explained, and rational. I pray that many others could see it that way, and raise their voice. Read up America, freedom does not mean that we get everything for free. In it’s extreme, freedom is paid for in blood!

“our muslin president…” Okay, that’s pretty funny. I guess next time we should elect a silk one.

The banks are keeping us unemployed. Won’t lend. The fee’s that banks have always charged, are charged to the poor. The banks make more on the poor than on the rich. The poor have an opportunity to “inheirt the earth” here!, CLOSE YOUR ACCOUNT. You don’t need an account. “We the people” can take control here, if we try.

Dems, please learn from this! The consumer always pays, either through cost or taxes. When government gets involved in business, it just adds more cost. The only thing that is real is value. Value is added to the economic model by producing real products or services that a sufficient number of people need or want. Government doesn’t work via supply and demand, it only serves to take money away from the interests of the majority, pool it, and divert it to special interests (which include wealthy businessmen). Hence, it finances things that otherwise wouldn’t be financed because they are too expensive for the special interest groups who want them. If you’re tired of paying the government 38 cents for every dollar of gas (much more than the oil companies make) and not having healthcare because government regulation and litigation has made it prohibative, or tired of that pro athlete making $10m/yr because the government has payed all of the overhead for the facility he plays in, STOP voting for fiscal liberals!

“Government doesn’t work via supply and demand, it only serves to take money away from the interests of the majority, pool it, and divert it to special interests”
The government works to protect the public from negligence and abuse, and throughout its history it’s spend much of its time protecting us from greedy corporations.

He needs to raise taxes on all those rich people so he can give it to us poor people that the rich people kept down all this time.

When the price of oil went up, the price of food went up and everyone in the government said, don’t worry. “When the price of oil comes down, the price of food will come down.” Well, guess what, the price of oil came down, but food didn’t. It’s a fact of life that once a business increases prices and there is no immediate opposition, those prices will form the new foundation on which additional price increases will come.

It’s a fact of life that once a business increases prices and there is no immediate opposition, those prices will form the new foundation on which additional price increases will come.
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Nonsense. As an example, the price of electronics like computers, laptops and such have been coming DOWN while the capacity increase.

MG said “I will move to a local credit union or smaller bank that didn’t take TARP funds, won’t be subject to the bank levy fees, and will be able to offer me a more competitive offer. ”
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And as soon as those higher fees become the “norm” at the larger institutions, the smaller banks & credit unions will raise their fees to match.

And as soon as those higher fees become the “norm” at the larger institutions, the smaller banks & credit unions will raise their fees to match.
Posted by: ellsbells930 | Mar 5, 2010 1:58:51 PM
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Nonsense. You have no idea what smaller banks will or won’t do!
If it gives them a competitive advantage and attracts customers, and there are not paying and TARP fees, smaller banks will ADVERTISE they’re not raising their rates – and will attract customers.

In it’s extreme, freedom is paid for in blood!
Posted by: Jerry |
like the Pentagon shooting , his ‘freedoms’ were in danger, so much for the another fringe nut

I was going to list Obamas broken promises for his first year in office but there is simply not enough room here to do that so I will list his successes. 1. Im thinking, give me a minute.

Obama has no business experience
Posted by: Billy Bob
the Bush crime family came in saying they were the ‘adults’ and that the government would be ‘run like a business’ as they were all businessmen and corporate elite….
they ran the government and the country right into the ground

YES WE CAN/ 2012 promise…we will at least fulfill one 2008 promise

“Either that or you’re talking collusion and monopoly.”
Please don’t bring Goldman Sachs into this.

Buffet said charging the banks wasn’t a great idea as well. First the administration gives them money, (some they forced to take money), they criticize banks for not loaning to businesses, and then want to charge them more to make loaning even tougher. This administration is so messed up. They really don’t understand business at all, they just like to vilify it because it fits their agenda.

So let me get this straight. The big banks were super greedy, caused the recent economic melt-down, we had to bail them out, they paid back some of it, this fee will pay back the rest of the debt and….what is wrong with that?
The big banks really messed up, their employees and stock holders benefited for years, so why shouldn’t they pay back what they borrowed, with interest?
Are you people really complaining that they will have to pay back what they borrowed? Is it really that much of a knee-jerk reaction to object to whatever Obama say that you will lose your common sense? Think!
Folks, if the big banks raise their rates, just head for a local bank or credit union. Their rates are terrific and they really do customer service right.

Nonsense. You have no idea what smaller banks will or won’t do!
If it gives them a competitive advantage and attracts customers, and there are not paying and TARP fees, smaller banks will ADVERTISE they’re not raising their rates – and will attract customers.
Posted by: tierra
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Nonsense. You have no idea what smaller banks will or won’t do!

I have a great credit union – SAFE Credit Union. Been with them since 94.
I maxed out my card w/SAFE, still got a loan for 20k, low intrest. Credit score
of 700 plus.
that’s competition. I could not have gotten such a deal from Wells Fargo.

Posted by: Carl | Mar 6, 2010 10:08:40 AM
Awesome idea, Carl! I like the way you think.