As a direct result of the Durbin Amendment, consumers have started paying for financial services they previously enjoyed free of charge. Unfortunately, this proves that whenever government tries to control pricing of a product or service, consumers lose.” 
 
 
 
 OBAMA ON BANK OF AMERICA - From the ABC interview: “This is exactly why we need this Consumer Finance Protection Bureau that we set up that is ready to go ... But this is exactly why we need somebody who's sole job it is to prevent this kind of stuff from happening. PRESIDENT OBAMA: Well, you can stop it because it-- if you-- if you say to the banks, "You don't have some inherent right just to-- you know, get a certain amount of profit. If your customers – are being mistreated. That you have to treat them fairly and transparently.” Video: http://abcn.ws/oeQEns Transcript: http://abcn.ws/r4su3F 
 
 
 
 INDUSTRY REACTS - The remarks from the President generated serious consternation from the financial industry and lit up M.M.’s email box. GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: And the banks are saying-- 
 
 PRESIDENT OBAMA: And so-- Well-- what-- what the banks are saying is-- that "Rather than take a little bit less of a profit. And there are still plenty of banks to which customers can transfer their money if they want out. Find yourself a bank or credit union that won't gouge you for $5 a month and still will give you a debit card that you can use every single day. [Mitt] Romney talking it up on campaign trail gives the leadership plenty of cover, especially if Treasury punts again on October report on currency, as I expect they will.” http://bit.ly/qEYaoz 
 
 
 
 TRADE DEAL TALKING POINTS - Expect the White House to make the following arguments to wary Democrats today after submitting the South Korea, Columbia and Panama trade deals to Congress for final approval “These trade agreements will create jobs and grow the economy by leveling the playing field for American businesses ... This is actually not good business practice." I don't think most Americans believe that. The-- because-- you know, given the economy, there's no doubt that, you know, whatever happens on your watch, you've got-- 
 
 GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: You embraced that pretty quickly. GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: --getting warnings not to back that company up, not to visit. ... Information about what's happening in Washington is at a premium on Wall Street these days. GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: ...pass the tax cuts and the trade bills, is that enough? But they've got this guy with a gun following them around! ... 
 
 
 
 “So you have to wonder... behind the quiet exterior, are Tim Geithner and Ben Bernanke absolutely freaking out? GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: As you might have heard in the last hour, the Republican leader in the house, Eric Cantor, said he's not going to schedule a clean bill-- this all or nothing approach, he said, is unreasonable. Instead, Republicans are trying to show their own commitment to reviving the economy by pushing small measures that a majority of GOP House members are likely to back, including eliminating a 3 percent withholding tax regulation for companies doing business with the government, passing trade deals — which Obama sent to the Hill late Monday — and rolling back a slew of regulations.” http://bit.ly/rcrVBE 
 
 
 
 GOLDMAN GRADUATION - Per Goldman Sachs: “Goldman Sachs continues to build its 10,000 Small Businesses program ...
– President Obama made waves in his latest interview with George Stephanopoulos of ABC, in which he spoke out against Bank of America’s unpopular new $5 fee for debit card users. “This is exactly why we need this Consumer Finance Protection Bureau,” Obama said. Asked directly if he could stop it, he replied, “You can stop it … if you say to the banks, ‘You don’t have some inherent right just to get a certain amount of profit if your customers are being mistreated.'" That drew a rebuke from the American Bankers Association, which called it “disappointing and puzzling that the president would attack a private corporation for responding to government price fixing,” according to Politico. That’s not the only soundbite generating interest: Asked if Americans were better off than they were four years ago—the line Ronald Reagan used to defeat Jimmy Carter—Obama replied, “They’re not better off than they were before Lehman’s collapse, before the financial crisis. ... The unemployment rate is still way too high.”