This is a story that broke mostly while I was off line last week. President Obama has apparently decided to institute a "bank tax".

The proposed levy could put Obama on the popular side of public opinion that is decidedly against Wall Street and angry over shortfalls in a $700 billion bank bailout fund.

I don't know who doesn't get "it" more, the President or the AP.  The American people were not mad at banks necessarily for TAKING TARP money as much as they were angry at the government for PUSHING IT THROUGH!  But I digress.

What I found interesting was this clip from financial adviser Suze Orman.

What do you think the banks do?  Do you think they just take it and say OK? They pass those fees, whether you know it or not (in my opinion) on to the bottom line so that every single consumer ends up paying for those fees...It looks like we are recovering it but the truth of the matter is we are recovering it on the backs of every single taxpayer, every single consumer, every single person that is struggling today to just get by.

Emphasis in the video.

For clarification, Ms. Orman is hardly a staunch Republican supporter.  As a matter of fact, a search of OpenSecrets.org shows that Ms. Orman donated over $28,000 to the DNC Services Corp (aka the DNC) in 2008.

The truth of the matter (to quote Ms. Orman) is that the government is trying to pass the cost of the banking bailout on to the backs of the consumers and not on their friends in the banking lobby.  A little common sense goes a long way - especially in this case and common sense will tell you just what Ms. Orman said - the banks will not be the ones to pay this "tax" - YOU WILL.

How's that Hope and Change working out for you today?