Obama another Ali?

What's Obama up to now? It's the New Year - 2010 - and he's talking about a special tax on corporations bailed out in 2009, that is, all the big banks. What is this, has Obama been playing a Mohammed Ali game all along? Setting the special interests up for a sucker punch? Possibly unconsciously? He must resent the contempt the big bank CEOs have shown for him personally as well as for the elected Congress and people of the US. Is the mild-mannered Obama ready for some payback, for throwing some long delayed sucker punches at the arrogant and complacent banks?

Up to now Obama the Great Compromiser has given the special interest corporations what they want. The banks got, are still getting many many billions, with no accountability, sniffing their mighty noses at the "shit" riff-raff made up of Democratic, Republican, left, right and independent voters. Well, yes, this big bank bailout did prevent a complete worldwide economic collapse. that was good. But letting  the big, badly managed banks continue to "borrow" money from the Fed at near 0% interest  and from the FDIC at 1% interest has been a sham designed to make it look like the banks were performing so well that TARP could be paid back. Meanwhile that "borrowed"  money (no restrictions on use) was used to continue reckless trading practices, dole out huge bonuses, and buy foreign bonds. Not exactly prudent lending. My favorite bit of foolishness is giving them this money at 0% to 1% to buy foreign bonds paying 3%-6% interest, thus shipping huge amounts of taxpayer capital out of the US economy.

So is Obama finally calling the big banks to some sort of justice, some payback, however moderate?

Or is he up to something else? Is he using this talk of special taxes on the bailed-out to distract form the stink that will be raised in the Geithner hearings before Congress? Has Timmy been an agent of the big banks all along, and does Obama need to undermine the stinky Geithner story with another headline story?

Or is Obama trying to get some leverage for passing some sort of improved bank regulations? Not very strong, but improved. Even a mild set of regulations will have the bank CEOs in high dudgeon and their lizard lobbyists slinking around flicking their forked tongues and laying out plenty of disguised bribes.

Or is Obama "just saying," all talk and very little follow up?

Wait and see.