The red star rising...

President Obama, striking an emphatic and populist tone, said Thursday that he is determined to recoup every dollar spent from the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program to rescue Wall Street firms with a new tax on the largest banks.

"We want our money and we're going to get it back," he said.

Obama described bank bonuses as "obscene" and said the new tax would cover a projected $117 billion shortfall in the government's financial crisis bailout fund.

"My determination to achieve this goal is only heightened when I see reports of massive profits and obscene bonuses at the very firms who owe their continued existence to the American people who have not been made whole, and who continue to face real hardship in this recession," Obama said.

In proposing the tax, Obama and his advisers are capitalizing on public antipathy toward banks blamed for causing the crisis, while at the same time addressing a desire to show progress toward reducing record federal deficits.

The president is proposing a levy of 15 basis points, or 15 percent, on the liabilities of large financial institutions. The tax, which officials are calling a "financial crisis responsibility fee," would apply only to financial companies with assets of more than $50 billion. Those firms -- estimated to amount to about 50 institutions -- would have to pay the fee even though many did not accept any taxpayer assistance and most others already paid back the government lent to them.

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