Trust a Banker?

Here's a bit from an article in Slate by David Gross:

Predictably, Wall Street and the banking industry don't like President Obama's plan to tax banks to help pay for the bailout. JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, an Obama supporter, said, "Using tax policy to punish people is a bad idea." Republicans generally denounced it, with RNC Chairman Michael Steele noting "this money has already been paid back by the banks" and calling it a "punitive tax" that "will hurt Americans' savings and discourage job creation at the worst of economic times."

It would be a lot easier to accept this line of reasoning if JPMorgan Chase didn't have about $40 billion in FDIC-guaranteed debt outstanding, and if the Federal Reserve didn't have $27 billion of Bear Stearns assets on its balance sheet (which it had assumed to help JPMorgan take over Bear). Big banks might have paid back the money they borrowed under the Troubled Asset Relief Program, but they're still benefitting hugely from the bailouts and taxpayer supports enacted after the crisis.

But there's an even better reason to dismiss their concerns. A study of recent—and not so recent—financial reform and regulation yields two rules. Rule No. 1: The banks have no idea what kind of regulation is good for them. Rule No. 2: If you ever think the banks have a point, remember Rule No. 1.

If you want to learn a little historical background, read the whole article by Gross. You might learn some useful historical lessons and get a perspective that lets you appreciate why bankers aren't the best guides for needed bank regulation.

If you feel a need for more Daniel Gross, try this.