Has Congress found a way to exert its political will on the supposedly independent Federal Reserve Board? And, in the process, murder the infant Consumer Financial Protection Bureau?
If so, say goodbye to future, broad actions to save consumers from credit card and other financial abuse, including the enforcement of current laws. Government action against deception [...]
It’s too soon to put on the party hats. The investor protection community cheered this week, when the staff of the Securities and Exchange Commission recommended that stockbrokers take more legal responsibility for the financial advice they give. But we’re a long way from moving that proposal into an actual rule of conduct. Of [...]
What was billed as the Great Year-End Tax Wrestle seems to be ending with a whimper instead of a bang. The White House might surrender to the Republicans and their own Democratic conservatives. Odds are, Bush’s tax cuts for the wealthy will continue, at a 10-year cost of nearly $700 billion. The revenue loss would [...]
Can the Republicans de-fund the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau? The answer is no – at least, not as the law stands now. As far as is possible, Congress sheltered the bureau from hostile political interference.
Supporters of the law took a lesson from what happened at the Securities and Exchange Commission, when financial lobbyists poured cash [...]
The stakes for health reform are high. If Republicans win the House in the midterm elections, they will set the agenda. The Affordable Care Act could slowly be torn apart – not by repeal, but by denying the money needed to put its provisions into effect. Rep. John Boehner (and Speaker-in-waiting) says, [...]
