My wife is a financial counselor. It is truly heartbreaking the amount of nuisance fees low earners pay on credit card and banking fees, not to mention the usury of pay day loans. These fees and extortionate interest rates can be so onerous that families find themselves unable to pay for heat or electricity and sometimes will lose their homes because the aggressive collections practices convince them to pay credit cards rather than their mortgage. I doubt many of us here who are wealthy enough pay for this publication have any concept of the degree the poor are, well, screwed by the banks and the credit card companies.
I was surprised to read such a pro-Trump article on Persuasion.
Seriously, promoting the idea that every ill-conceived--or reasonably contested--new regulation is a necessarily permanent part of the liberal order undermines what I thought was the purpose of this publication.
I'm not sure it's pro-Trump, but it is anti-freedom and anti-rights. The agency the article praises so highly has sweeping, unchecked power and is specifically structured so that it isn't answerable to anybody.
A big bureaucracy of people who are economically illiterate enforcing economic rules that they concoct on their own is bad enough by itself. The fact that this bureaucracy is structured so it can't be controlled by our elected representatives makes it all the worse. I don't know if that's Trumpian, but it is evil in an authoritarian way.
Oh, I've heard of the CFPB. And I'm amazed that this article blithely ignores that:
* It is an agency of unelected officials that can nevertheless write and prosecute laws
* It has been structured to be outside congressional budgetary authority -- it is sneakily financed by Federal Reserve surpluses (which is ludicrous because the Fed no longer generates surpluses)
* The agency thinks it isn't subject to executive authority either
Imagine that: an agency that neither the legislature nor the executive controls, but can nevertheless fine you, send you to jail, or seize your assets!
The fact that CFPB staff have inherited Elizabeth Warren's economic illiteracy makes it all the worse. For example, they based claims of auto loan discrimination on a completely flawed algorithm that guessed people's race based on their last name.
Forget about whether the agency does good or bad. A government agency that is specifically designed not to be answerable to any elected representatives is the first step on the road to tyranny. I used to think the "deep state" was just a conspiracy theory. But the CFPB makes me wonder.
Did you know that previous CFPB heads thought they could never be fired and refused to leave office? The only way they got rid of one was to change the locks on the building and lock them out. It took a Supreme Court ruling to reel this stupidity in.
"Naturally, much of the focus has been on his authoritarian impulses, his hunger to wield the Justice Department to punish his enemies. Some liberals fear democracy will crumble altogether."
So much irrational fatalism and hyperbole. Just like leading up to the 2016 election. Some liberals fear? Most liberals fear. Because like we saw during the pandemic, liberals are prone to irrational fear. However, the clear fact here is liberals legitimately fearful of the righteous justice that will come down on them in payment for the Democrat's dirty political behavior.
I found the article helpful. I admit don’t know a lot about CFPB, and in this article see few measures taken by the CFPB as overbearing or draconian. Most actions taken seem reasonable and needed to combat the greed of huge corporations, measures protective of consumers that would languish forever if left up to Congress. I also see that Congress can challenge rules promulgated by the agency, and corporations would have the court system to challenge? Where are all the horror stories if CFPB is so out of line? As mentioned above, most of us have no idea how often the poor and working class are screwed by banks and credit card companies.
My wife is a financial counselor. It is truly heartbreaking the amount of nuisance fees low earners pay on credit card and banking fees, not to mention the usury of pay day loans. These fees and extortionate interest rates can be so onerous that families find themselves unable to pay for heat or electricity and sometimes will lose their homes because the aggressive collections practices convince them to pay credit cards rather than their mortgage. I doubt many of us here who are wealthy enough pay for this publication have any concept of the degree the poor are, well, screwed by the banks and the credit card companies.
I was surprised to read such a pro-Trump article on Persuasion.
Seriously, promoting the idea that every ill-conceived--or reasonably contested--new regulation is a necessarily permanent part of the liberal order undermines what I thought was the purpose of this publication.
I'm not sure it's pro-Trump, but it is anti-freedom and anti-rights. The agency the article praises so highly has sweeping, unchecked power and is specifically structured so that it isn't answerable to anybody.
A big bureaucracy of people who are economically illiterate enforcing economic rules that they concoct on their own is bad enough by itself. The fact that this bureaucracy is structured so it can't be controlled by our elected representatives makes it all the worse. I don't know if that's Trumpian, but it is evil in an authoritarian way.
Oh, I've heard of the CFPB. And I'm amazed that this article blithely ignores that:
* It is an agency of unelected officials that can nevertheless write and prosecute laws
* It has been structured to be outside congressional budgetary authority -- it is sneakily financed by Federal Reserve surpluses (which is ludicrous because the Fed no longer generates surpluses)
* The agency thinks it isn't subject to executive authority either
Imagine that: an agency that neither the legislature nor the executive controls, but can nevertheless fine you, send you to jail, or seize your assets!
The fact that CFPB staff have inherited Elizabeth Warren's economic illiteracy makes it all the worse. For example, they based claims of auto loan discrimination on a completely flawed algorithm that guessed people's race based on their last name.
Forget about whether the agency does good or bad. A government agency that is specifically designed not to be answerable to any elected representatives is the first step on the road to tyranny. I used to think the "deep state" was just a conspiracy theory. But the CFPB makes me wonder.
Did you know that previous CFPB heads thought they could never be fired and refused to leave office? The only way they got rid of one was to change the locks on the building and lock them out. It took a Supreme Court ruling to reel this stupidity in.
"Naturally, much of the focus has been on his authoritarian impulses, his hunger to wield the Justice Department to punish his enemies. Some liberals fear democracy will crumble altogether."
So much irrational fatalism and hyperbole. Just like leading up to the 2016 election. Some liberals fear? Most liberals fear. Because like we saw during the pandemic, liberals are prone to irrational fear. However, the clear fact here is liberals legitimately fearful of the righteous justice that will come down on them in payment for the Democrat's dirty political behavior.
I found the article helpful. I admit don’t know a lot about CFPB, and in this article see few measures taken by the CFPB as overbearing or draconian. Most actions taken seem reasonable and needed to combat the greed of huge corporations, measures protective of consumers that would languish forever if left up to Congress. I also see that Congress can challenge rules promulgated by the agency, and corporations would have the court system to challenge? Where are all the horror stories if CFPB is so out of line? As mentioned above, most of us have no idea how often the poor and working class are screwed by banks and credit card companies.