Democrats in Washington have sought to demonstrate their bona fides with regular Americans over the past year (as they have simultaneously showed contempt for them in their health-care drive) through railing against the greed and avarice of the nation's banks. Trying to capitalize on Americans' increasing economic frustration, such luminaries of our country's ruling party as President Barack Obama and Rep. Barney Frank have suggested new taxes on the banks in light of news that more bonuses will be enriching the pockets of many a banking executive.
In the historical pantheon of political demagoguery this iteration is fairly feeble. What it does demonstrate though is the cognitive dissonance that has plagued Washington Democrats in almost all of their ventures since they assumed complete power one year ago. It should not take the critical thinking skills of much more than a high school freshman to figure out that what is being inveighed against implicitly condemns what is being proposed.
Think about it: if America's banks and bank executives are really as greedy and immune to the broader public interest as those at the highest levels of elected government say they are, then why in the world would you tax them? A greedy entity concerned solely with its own profit will not absorb the increased costs incurred by these taxes. They will not pay an extra dime.
Instead the increased costs will be passed down to the bottom of the chain, in the form of increased fees on regular Americans. This is true of any increased costs, whether through direct taxation or regulation, that Washington has and will try to levy on the higher institutions of the American economy. It is the American consumer most affected, not the fat cat sitting in a leather chair with a Christmas bonus in his pocket.
Should the president and Rep. Frank have their way, the long arm of the government will simply reach deeper into the pockets of all Americans, albeit in an indirect way.
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