Elizabeth Warren (Mike Theiler/REUTERS)
If the GOP could be more baldly pro-Wall Street, pro-Chamber of Commerce, pro-Koch brothers it's hard to imagine how. They're the party of, by, and for the privileged and are making no effort whatsoever to conceal that now. They don't even want you to have more understandable agreements with your bank for your credit card or your mortgage. They want you to be at the mercy of their well-heeled cronies. How else to explain their
unrelenting war on the relatively toothless Consumer Financial Protection Bureau?
WASHINGTON (CNNMoney) -- House Republicans on Wednesday detailed a new barrage of legislative measures they plan to pursue that would dilute, delay and curtail powers of the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).
"This is just the beginning of what will be an ongoing dialogue of how to better reform the CFPB," said Rep. Shelley Moore Capito, a West Virginia Republican during a hearing on Wednesday. "The current structure simply puts too much power in the hands of one individual and does not allow for sufficient oversight of the regulations put forth by the bureau."
....
Among the latest legislative efforts, Republicans say they want to:
- Replace the job of director of the bureau with a five-member committee.
- Make it easier to overturn and veto consumer bureau rules.
- Prevent the bureau from flexing any new powers until the Senate confirms a director.
- Stop consumer bureau financial examiners from going on ride-along banking examinations with other regulatory agencies until the bureau is up and running.
It must be bemusing for Elizabeth Warren to strike such terror in the hearts of so many Republicans, who continue to insist that it's really not about her. "'This is not about Elizabeth Warren, it's about giving one person total, unbridled authority,' said Bachus, an Alabama Republican." It's about her as an effective leader, which they absolutely do not want for the CFPB, because they are fundamentally opposed to consumer protection.
They want you to be ripped off, and will fight to the death for the right of Wall Street to screw you.
(H/T Chris in Paris)