Obama has a legal responsibility to recoup bailout money, which is how this bank fee came about. Geithner says the tax was designed so that it wouldn't affect lending.
Only banks with more than $50 billion in assets will have to pay the fee, the president said, adding that 60 percent of the revenue from the program will come from the 10 largest financial institutions.
The program, which would go into effect June 30, is expected to raise $90 billion over 10 years. It may extend beyond the next decade if costs have not been recouped by that time. NPR
Geithner:
We're doing what is fair, and what is just, and what is economically sensible and what we have a legal obligation to do, which is to make sure that we hold the American people harmless from the cost of the financial crisis and that we collect back from the financial industry that benefited from the financial rescue the ultimate costs of what it took to solve this crisis," Geithner says. "That's the sensible, fair thing to do." NPR
Geithner also speaks on AIG.
