CAPITAL: New Tax Is Latest Sign Banks Are Losing the Political War

Now do you think Lloyd Blankfein, John Mack, Dick Parsons, and Vikram Pandit regret standing up President Obama for that Dec. 14, 2009, meeting?

Obama today will hit ’em where it hurts, with a “financial crisis responsibility tax” of 15 basis points on covered liability, which is total assets minus tier one capital. It is estimated that the banks in the 50-50 club (that’s 50 banks with more than $50 billion of assets) will end up paying around $90 billion over the next 10 years.

You can straightline today’s tax from the simple fact that the public hates banks, as shown here:

The lobbying lines being drawn on this proposed tax are echoing the populist sentiments. One White House official told The Wall Street Journal:

This is going to be one tough fight, and I think the banks are going to lose this one, especially after Goldman, et al release their bonus numbers next week. (Talk about bad timing or good timing on Obama’s part.) Jamie Dimon, JP Morgan Chase’s erstwhile CEO, cased out the opposing argument to the tax in a comment to Bloomberg:

That’s not the play, Jamie. The “costs will be passed on to consumers” argument implies that JP Morgan Chase — and its cohorts — will unceremoniously stick it to their customers. And that’s exactly why people hate banks.

But these bankers should take consolation in one fact: at least the Fed isn’t breaking up your bank. Yet.