In an article on the U.K.’s decision to impose a special tax on bankers’ bonuses the NYT told readers that the Obama administration: “have taken a more measured approach to taxing banker bonuses, after considering the effect on the government’s wider efforts to nurse the banking industry back to health and to maintain a flow of credit to consumers and small businesses.”

This may be an accurate description of the Obama administration’s motives, but it is also possible that the administration was primarily concerned about protecting a powerful political ally. The article does not explain how it determined the administration’s true motives in opposing taxes on bankers’ bonuses.

–Dean Baker

Dean Baker is senior economist at the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington, D.C. He is the author of several books, including Rigged: How Globalization and the Rules of the Modern Economy Were Structured to Make the Rich Richer. Read more about Dean.