Forum Post: Financial Consumer Protection Bureau head filibustered by 1% protectors
Posted 12 years ago on Dec. 8, 2011, 7:36 p.m. EST by cmt
(1195)
from Tolland, CT
This content is user submitted and not an official statement
The Bureau set up under Dodd Frank to protect consumers from the predatory financial practices has been deprived of a Director by a Senate filibuster.
Some of you will know that many agencies and bureaus in the federal government have been prevented from having directors by an unprecedented number of filibusters. This is even worse that those, because key protections cannot be put in place until a Director is named.
"Non-bank" entities like mortgage brokers, payday lenders and private student loan providers will continue to be unregulated until a Director is in place. The massive fraud by mortgage brokers was a major factor in the financial meltdown that triggered the Great Recession. Payday lenders are charging families up to 300% annual interest, and many have targeted military families to bleed dry. Private student loan companies are protected from the borrower's ever going bankrupt, and....many of you can tell more about them than I know about that topic.
This looks like an important read. Thanks.
Thank you.
I do try to provide useful content when I post.
Imagine a clear credit card form: it is actually in the works. The Financial Consumer Protection Bureau is worth fighting for.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/07/credit-card-confusion-cfpb_n_1133955.html
It is good to have a clearer credit card form but I have doubts whether it will avoid people going in over their heads again. There are tons of "innovations" that corporations will spew out. There are, for example, tax simplifications dating from the Reagan days. Actually, for our tax laws, simplifications bred complexities to cover cases of transitioning from the old rules to the new rules. I hope that the financial industry does not come up with more of the evil "innovations".
This is new. We've never had anything like this before. The entire point of the FCPB is to protect consumers from the corporations in the finance industry.
While nothing's perfect, Pure Food and Drug has done an amazing job of protecting the public. We no longer remember how nasty it used to be, before. If this is half as good, it can be a huge step forward, if we can keep the minions of Wall Street from gutting it.
You are right. We have achieved miracles with what some industry folks called heavy-handed regulators such as our EPA. Our auto- industry's near-death experience was actually due to many decades of not pushing the industry to aim high with regulations on reliability and efficiency. The recent extremely fast improvements in cars' gas mileages were prompted by new regulations igniting the drive to excel. That is the proper role for government - providing a vision and getting industries to go for it with gusto and governmental encouragements. The minions of Wall Street are paid extremely well so our government regulators will likely be always a step behind, unlike some other countries who got their acts together much better than the Unraveled States of America.
http://articles.latimes.com/2011/jul/19/business/la-fi-consumer-bureau-cordray-20110719
has " '[former Ohio Atty. Gen. Richard Cordray] was a crusading state attorney general who went after financial firms,' said Jaret Seiberg, a financial services policy analyst for MF Global, a major derivatives broker. 'The industry has good reason to be suspicious.' "
Yes, indeed, MF Global which has since then went bankrupt and missing clients' money perhaps in the billion(s) - see http://articles.latimes.com/2011/nov/21/business/la-fi-mf-global-20111121.
MF Global is an archetype of the financial firms opposing the confirmation of Cordray through the Republican members (except Scott Brown) of the U.S. Senate. I read many complaints from the "everyday worker bees" that OWS cost NYC millions in police overtime. I say if we get Cordray to recover a billion or two (which he did as Ohio attorney general in 2009-10: $1-billion settlement from giant insurer American International Group Inc. and a $475-million settlement from Bank of America Corp.) from a grubby financial firm, we can afford perhaps a THOUSAND OWS in NYC with the money. The U.S. seems to be FULL of "everyday worker bees" that suffer inordinately from INNUMERACY - the ones who cannot divide a billion by a million and have a sense of what that really means.
If people do not want more MF Global "rude awakenings" that will hit them hard in their pocketbooks and 401k's, they need to overcome the Republicans' blocking of the proper enactment of Dodd-Frank.
Yes, they are "suspicious" that he will be effective on behalf of the middle class. Even those who voted against cloture, thus supporting the filibuster that blocked him, have had to admit that he is entirely qualified for this post.
This reminds me of the Bush'ite years when loyalty trumped competence and corruption is implicitly sanctioned through eviscerating regulatory agencies. Remember the Brownie in charge of the FEMA effort at Katrina-ravaged New-Orleans and the eyes-off-the-ball-for-decades Louisiana politicians? The U.S. seems to suffer perennially from these fools, bandits, and ENEMIES OF THE PEOPLE.
He should be a regulator to be proud of, based on his record. The best we can hope for now is a recess appointment, which would at least allow the Bureau to put some protections in place against "non-bank" abuse of consumers.
Yes, that has worked before and will work again. Republicans have been keeping Congress in session but they cannot keep that up forever to block an appointment. Their efforts on behalf of the financial corporations opposing regulations are insidiously despicable (not that they are new at all).
There is a possibility of a recess appointment. Since regulation of non-bank entities cannot go forward until there is a Director, that would allow the safeguards to be implemented. Even if Cordray is blocked from confirmation again, it would have allowed movement forward.
Yes! Really what is the point of passing Dodd-Frank if it is to be gutted by behind-the-scene (mostly Republican) maneuvers to eviscerate it?
Exactly!
No more Czar's thank you very much.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4mkRFCtl2MI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Z9WVZddH9w
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EewGMBOB4Gg
http://thezeitgeistmovement.com/
http://blog.thezeitgeistmovement.com/
http://www.thevenusproject.com/