Paul Kanjorski- When Are You Going To Pay Back The Money

Ooopps..that headline is a few years old. It was the "Cornerstone" of a campaign gone by. But seriously folks you have to hand it to Paul "Strum My Banjo" Kanjo.

In Kanjo's latest misdirection to the voters Borys Krawczeniuk at the Times Tribune pens this headline "Kanjorski: Big banks should understand new tax from government that bailed them out".

Let's get this straight, Paul. No government bailed them out. The citizens of the United States bailed them out. The government gave them our money, which by the way, you didn't have in the first place to give witness the balloon in the deficit.

Secondly the banks paid interest on every penny that was given to them. Even when they wanted to pay it back your fearless leader, "I have not a clue how to govern Obama" blatantly refused to allow them to pay their money back.

Obama now flip flops, stands in front of a camera, panders to the public and states "We Want Our Money Back." signaling his continued populist rhetoric that is quickly becoming old hat.

Here is the consequence to Kanjo's constituents if this tax passes.


Showing a clearer understanding of basic economics than the White House, JP Morgan Chase's CEO Jamie Dimon, Wall Street's most frequent White House visitor, called the tax a "bad idea." He added, that the businesses wouldn't really pay the fees anyhow."All businesses tend to pass their costs on to customers."

Harvard's senior economics lecturer Jeffrey Miron reinforced that point in Investor's Business Daily. Miron said "higher taxes mean higher costs and therefore higher prices, so customers (borrowers) will bear some of the burden of the tax." Fees, less available credit or companies shifting operations to other countries are all possible costs to customers as a result of a bank tax.

Then of course there's the fact that the tax is completely unfair, a point some reporters asked the White House about. CBS's Chip Reid asked Gibbs if it is "fair" that the tax could hit non-TARP banks or banks that have already repaid the money.

"There are obviously a lot of other banks that were TARP banks and paid their money back. Why is it fair to now go after them if they've paid the money back?" Reid asked.

Gibbs replied "Because of what they caused this economy." When Reid rightly suggested that's "punishment," Gibbs denied it.

The tax will only fall on the 50 largest banks and A.I.G. to "recoup" TARP losses, but some of those losses have been incurred by companies exempt from the tax including union shops General Motors and Chrysler and government-sponsored enterprises Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Despite White House rhetoric blaming the entire financial crisis on Wall Street, many fault the extreme overleveraging at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as well as their majority ownership of the secondary mortgage market for spurring the foreclosure crisis which rippled through the entire U.S. economy.

Kanjo..do you recall you refuse to exercise control and oversight over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac during testimony from the Financial Services Roundtable Steve Barlett? Kanjo, your memory may be failing but ours is fresh and ready to expose your misdirections every time they happen.