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As for the proposal that passed the House of Representatives to claw back bankers' bonuses by levying a 90% retroactive tax, ABC's John Berman was skeptical that it would pass Constitutional muster: "Congress is targeting a handful and it is not talking about revenue but retribution"--the very activity prohibited in the ban on Bills of Attainder. Berman also wondered whether the attacks on Wall Street might be counterproductive. "This kind of scrutiny, this kind of scorn might alienate private investors at the very time when the government is trying to get them to buy up toxic assets." A similar point was made by banking industry lobbyists and Wall Street hedge fund managers to CBS' Wyatt Andrews: "The Treasury and Federal Reserve are now trying to lure that money into public partnerships."
ABC's George Stephanopoulos too predicted a backlash from private capital if the House's 90% tax were to become law: "Everything the administration is trying to do to shore up the financial system would fall apart." He expected the bill to fail: "The Senate will not vote on it next week. They will not take it up for two weeks at least." CBS' Andrews pointed out that the President "will not commit to signing it. Call this one an outrage vote but not much else."
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