the White House is build on Wall Street banks

It is almost of giving-giving: the "fat cats" Wall Street need better accompany the resumption if they want to retain their bonus. It is, in substance, the message addressed yesterday by Barack Obama in patterns of 12 major banks called to Washington. In the aftermath of the vote on the reform of regulation financial by the House of representatives ("Les Echos" of yesterday), the American President wanted reminded bankers their "moral obligation" to accelerate the recovery by facilitating the granting of credits to SMEs and American households. On the other hand, it refrained from adhering to the initiative of Paris and London to create a surcharge of 50 on banking bonuses at a time where Bank of America (BoA) and Citigroup rush to repay the State aid to retrieve their full room for manoeuvre in terms of remuneration.

"Now that banks are again on foot with the extraordinary contri sales help us, we expect of them an extraordinary commitment to help rebuild the economy," yesterday launched Barack Obama. The day before, Bush had indicated in an interview with CBS did not have "registered to run the Presidency to help a band of fat cats "fat cats" of Wall Street".

The interest of taxpayers

In the wake of the adoption by the House of the reform of the financial regulation, which is still suspended from the green light from the Senate in the first quarter of 2010, the White House wanted to take this opportunity to remind the bankers to their responsibilities. "One of the most frustrating things for me is to see these same banks that benefited from the help of taxpayers to fight tooth and nail, with the help of their lobbyists, against a strengthening of the financial regulation in Congress," indignant Barack Obama, visibly angered by the slow pace of the legislative process. That is why while encouraging banks to relax the granting of financing to SMEs and the owners of housing, he has strongly directed them also to not oppose the creation of the new agency for the protection of consumers in the reform.

Even if Washington refrained from joining, the initiative of London and Paris on bonuses offered him a "window of shooting" to get concessions from Wall Street in the field of credit and regulation. With the uncertainties weighing on the strength of the recovery and the situation of employment (with a 10 unemployment rate), the White House is build on Wall Street banks, first recipients of the taxpayer.

On the other hand, the Obama administration is kept from any comment on the European initiative on the taxation of bonuses. Somehow, his silence is eloquent. Just the Economic Adviser to the White House, Lawrence Summers, merely noted the "moral obligation" of the firms on Wall Street to accompany the resumption after 700 billions of dollars of aid from the Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP).

Although the British idea has found "interesting" by the former President of the Federal Reserve, Paul Volcker - rather a "free electron" in the entou-rage of Barack Obama-, the Treasury seems not in favour of this punitive tax measure. In contrast, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, openly welcomed his potential impact in terms of the transfer of activities across the Atlantic.