Mankiw Endorses Obama’s Bank Tax

27 Comments so far ↓

• Michael Balay // Jan 19, 2010 at 9:05 pm

  You misunderstand me, Kanzeon. Mankiw is an outstanding economist. Geithner is obviously extremely accomplished. Neither is infallible. It is incumbent on observers to try to work the through the consequences of policy and not simply accept claims of the “experts.” The experts actually make mistakes.

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• WillyP // Jan 20, 2010 at 2:59 pm

  Michael Balay,
  You are wasting your time dealing with a hack’s hack in Kanzeon. Obama could propose a tax on Kanzeon alone and Kanzeon would come out in support of it, claiming that somehow it would increase his own income.

  Of course this tax is a bad idea. It serves no legitimate purpose (it’s ability to recoup funds is almost irrelevant… they could collect 10x this amount and still be deep in debt), yet does serve to further discourage lending. Obama just wants more money to spend, sooner rather than later, and he knows he won’t get much resistance on this pathetic, paltry proposal because 1) the public hates the “fat cat” bankers 2) Obama knows that they are severely dependent on government and hence have no independence.

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