Barack Obama Imposes Tax on Big Banks
THE TELEGRAPH: President Barack Obama has unveiled a new tax on the country's biggest banks to recoup the money spent bailing the system out, putting the administration on a collision course with Wall Street.

Barack Obama, the US president, is imposing a levy on banks to recoup bail-out costs. Photograph: The Telegraph
The plan, if approved by Congress, would levy the tax on up to 50 financial services companies based on the total size of their liabilities. White House officials estimates it will raise at least $90bn over the next decade and wrest back for the taxpayer the money given the banks as part of the $700bn Troubled Asset Relief Programme (TARP).

Mr Obama said the move is aimed at preventing Wall Street firms from going back to "business as usual" and resuming high-risk lending practices and huge bets on mortgages and other instruments he blames for igniting the financial crisis.

"My commitment is to recover every single dime the American people are owed," said Mr Obama.

"My determination to achieve this goal is only heightened when I see reports of massive profits and obscene bonuses at the very firms who owe their continued existence to the American people – have not been made whole, and who continue to face real hardship in this recession."

His announcement comes amid rising public anger in America at the prospect of the titans of Wall Street handing out multi-million dollar bonuses to staff little more than 12 months after the financial system was rescued by the brink. >>> Telegraph Staff | Thursday, January 14, 2010

US Bailout Companies Ordered to Cut Pay
TIMES ONLINE: Top executives at US companies that have not yet repaid billions of dollars of taxpayers' bailout money will be forced to take pay cuts of up to 90 per cent after a ruling by President Obama's pay czar.

The most senior 25 employees at Citigroup, Bank of America, American International Group, General Motors, Chrysler, as well as the financing arms of the two car companies, will see their basic salary fall to just 10 per cent of previous pay, with some earnings replaced with shares in the company that cannot be sold for several years.

The result of the measures will be an average remuneration reduction of 50 per cent.

The move is designed to link the personal self-interest of board members with the long-term health of the company and will be closely watched in the UK, as ministers grapple with how to limit the excesses of bonus culture at British banks. >>> Rebecca O'Connor | Thursday, October 22, 2009

Human Filth! Human Garbage!
MAIL Online: City bankers are set to pocket huge bonuses again, despite bringing the world economy to the brink of ruin.

Goldman Sachs yesterday promised thousands of staff - 5,500 of them in the UK - a 33 per cent pay boost after it returned to profit.

Other banks are expected to follow suit after benefiting from trillions of pounds in government bailouts.

Last night angry MPs condemned what they said was 'business as usual' for City fat cats. Goldman Sachs was accused of 'taking the mickey' out of taxpayers with such massive bonuses during a global recession.

The Wall Street bank, bailed-out with £6.7billion from the U.S. government only last October, has raised its bonus and pay pool for the first three months of this year by 17 per cent, to £3.1billion. Sachs of Gold: Six Months after Bailout Costing Billions, Greedy Bankers Reward Themselves with a NEW Round of Huge Bonuses >>> By Simon Duke and Olinka Koster | Wednesday, April 5, 2009