There’s a point where a weak Consumer Financial Protection Agency would be worse than no agency at all. So far, the watered-down Senate bill remains on the right side of the line. But there might come a point where we all have to stand up and shout “no.”
For consumers, nothing—nothing—is more important than having an [...]
Maybe I mourned too soon.
I donned black crepe when Senator Chris Dodd (D) proposed killing Obama’s Consumer Financial Protection Agency—replacing it with a “bureau” that looked like a useless glob. Supposedly, Dodd was trying to compromise with the Party of No. But for them, even a glob proved an ooze too far. He got zero [...]
The same banks that abused the public with deceptive credit-card pitches and exploding mortgages are demanding the freedom to do it again. And the Senate—that owned and operated subsidiary of Fat Cat, Inc.—might give it to them. The only—repeat, only—section of the financial reform bill that actually helps consumers is the proposed Consumer Financial Protection [...]
The banks think we’re stupid. They pounded consumers into the ground with abusive mortgages and credit cards. Now they’re threatening us with even higher costs if Congress tries to do something about it. “Honesty costs too much money,” the lenders seem to be saying. Somewhere, the gods are texting “lol.”
The object of the bankers’ ire [...]
