The Nation's Ari Berman has a
must read article on the $3 trillion industry lined up against Elizabeth Warren and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the new agency set up to "police 'unfair, deceptive, or abusive' financial services products." Here are a few key snippets:
The three chief sponsors of the [anti-]CFPB bills—Duffy, Bachus and Shelley Moore Capito—received a total of $1.4 million from the finance, real estate and insurance sector during the 2010 election. Now they're returning the favor. The GOP Congressional assault on the CFPB is a clever way for the caucus to appeal to the Tea Party's antigovernment fervor while attracting prodigious campaign contributions from Wall Street and forcing the Obama administration to play defense on yet another critical piece of legislation. "This is a preview of coming attractions," says Congressman Barney Frank, the ranking Democrat on the Finance Committee, "and the audience is the business community and their donors."
....
Warren and the CFPB are up against what she estimates to be a $3 trillion consumer financial services industry, which views the bureau as a potentially grave threat to its prosperity. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, 156 groups—the vast majority representing corporate interests—lobbied the government about the CFPB in the second half of 2010 and the first quarter of 2011. The list ranged from JPMorgan Chase to McDonald’s. For some in the business community, the CFPB represents an annoying “nuisance,” says Scott Talbot, chief lobbyist for the Financial Services Roundtable, while for others it’s “holy jihad.”
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The Chamber has an entire division devoted to fighting Dodd-Frank, the Center for Capital Markets Competitiveness, and a huge budget. In the first quarter of this year, the Chamber spent $17 million on federal lobbying, far more than any other group, with a dozen lobbyists focused on the CFPB alone. In 2009 the Chamber was anything but subtle in its attacks on the bureau. “We’re fundamentally trying to kill this,” said senior director Ryan McKee. It called the CFPB an “unprecedented expansion of government intervention” and a “new tax” on small businesses. But after losing round one, the Chamber and other opponents decided to work behind closed doors. “They’re much more stealth than they were before,” says Mierzwinski of USPIRG. Who needs a public campaign, after all, when you have the House GOP as a new best friend?
Because there is nothing more dangerous to Wall Street than having to clearly explain to consumers what they're doing when they sign on the dotted line. America has pretty much gone 'round the bend when such a huge chunk of our economy depends on fraud against consumers.
That aside, there's another factor at work, one specifically against Warren. Rep. Barney Franks calls it exactly: sexism.
Frank, speaking at at news conference with members of Congress who had signed a letter to Obama asking him to use his recess appointment power to give Warren the slot, said that sexism played a role in the opposition to her appointment.
"The fact that she's a woman is a part of this; financial regulation has been very male preserve," Frank said. "There is no question that the effort to demonize Elizabeth Warren is in part because a woman shouldn't be telling bankers what to do.
"That's not appropriate. Some people think that for a woman to be in a heightened position regarding the titans of the financial industry is not appropriate," Frank said. "Consumer issues are issues that women are very much concerned about. Woman are the handlers of family finance, they are often taken advantage of."
Frank said he would prefer Warren be named to head the agency via the normal process. However, he rejected arguments that a less controversial candidate would fare any better, saying Republicans had made clear they would reject any candidate unless the agency was weakened.
You only need to watch the Republicans' attacks on Warren to see the sexism at work. There's an added virulence to the attacks that's very personal and wholly inappropriate.