Crapo in pivotal role

President Obama proposes recovering “every single dime the American people are owed” for bailing out the economy. This requires taxing the large financial institutions that caused the meltdown.

These banks profited tremendously from the bailout (along with their CEOs). While banks have repaid some of their direct government loans, they will not repay taxpayer funds funneled to them indirectly from other sources such as the AIG bailout. Obama’s proposal to tax these ungrateful institutions could raise $117 billion to cover bailout losses and therefore help contain the ballooning federal debt.

Whether Obama’s tax is implemented or not will be determined by four Republican senators on the Banking Committee. One is Idaho’s Sen. Mike Crapo.

Right now these banks are using our taxpayer bailout money to buy influence in Congress. Crapo alone collected over $618,000 from the financial industry since his last election ( www.opensecrets.org). His biggest contributors include JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs and Citigroup.

Crapo recently stated: “Our ballooning federal debt will leave future generations saddled with costs that they cannot bear; we are jeopardizing their futures.”

Is Crapo willing to tax big banks to help save “future generations”? Tell him how you feel. His Coeur d’Alene office number is (208) 664-0889.

Vern Stevens

Kellogg