(AP) Declaring “We want our money back,” President Barack Obama wants to slap a tax on banks to recoup the money that the American public spent on bailing out large financial institutions on the brink of collapse.
The president said Thursday his goal is not to punish banks, but rather to prevent them from a behavior of excess, including new employee bonuses he called “obscene.”
In brief comments at the White House, Obama took a deeply populist tone. He said: “My commitment is to the taxpayer.”
The president said big banks had shown irresponsibility, engaged in reckless risk for short-term profits, and had gotten themselves into a crisis of their own making. Some firms would have to pay the fee even though many did not accept any taxpayer assistance.