With all the bad news on the health care front, our foreign wars, and pessimism on the economy (despite modest signs of improvements in job losses and retail sales), it's nice to see populist rhetoric - and action - from the White House on Wall Street and the banks. In an interview with "60 Minutes", President Obama takes aim at "fat cat bankers" and details aggressive new IRS enforcement against tax cheats.
"I did not run for office to be helping out a bunch of fat cat bankers on Wall Street," Mr. Obama said.
Thank God he's finally addressing the widespread perception of friendliness to Wall Street, and it's not just tough new rhetoric. With the President set to meet Monday with CEOs from the nation's biggest banks, now would be a perfect time for a reboot on relations with the nations' Big Banks.
It's not too late to change public perception of the administration's priorities on the economy. The House just passed the most sweeping overhaul of financial regulations since FDR. The bill really goes after the doctrine of "too big to fail." In a "60 Minutes" interview appearing Sunday, President Obama outlined plans for the IRS to go after "high wealth" targets (a.k.a. tax cheats):
Meanwhile, a new U.S. Internal Revenue Service unit set up to catch rich tax cheats hiding their wealth in complex business entities is rapidly taking shape with the hiring of hundreds of employees.
The IRS high wealth unit, part of a broader effort to combat international tax evasion, is focusing on "the entire web of business entities controlled by a high wealth individual," IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman told a tax conference this week.
France and Britain are already moving to impose heavy new taxes on massive banker bonuses. Some progressives have been agitating for a transactions tax on all securities and derivatives, which is certain to be a non-starter in the House or Senate. But following the lead of Britain and France (and working to convince Germany to follow suit), would provide sorely-needed revenue to reduce the deficit next year. It would also help deflect criticism from the right populist Tea Partiers that the Democrats are the new party of Wall Street.
Of course, much will depend on whether the administration can salvage any worthwhile health care legislation. Reid's manager's amendment seems certain to include a bunch of troubling language designed to appease Lincoln, Landrieu, Nelson and Lieberman. New problems appeared this weekend on drug reimportation, abortion (which Durbin says will be modified in the final bill), annual limits on benefits, the public option, the Medicare buy-in, and the looming report from CBO on costs. And a real jobs bill (something stronger than "Cash for Caulkers") could also help.
With all the pessimism and divisions the bad economy, ongoing wars, and health care debate has produced around here, at least it's nice to see a scenario where the Democrats could reboot their domestic priorities in the New Year. What do you think? Can the administration turn things around in time for 2010 elections? Is this just posturing, or new positioning and a new set of policies to help middle class Americans? Can the administration do anything to change public opinion if the unemployment rate remains locked in double digits?