GOP prepares to gut new consumer protection bureau - USATODAY.com

After all her hard work, it looks like the new Consumer Protection Financial Protection Bureau is about to be dismantled. This is such a sad and disappointing day for those of us who have supported Ms. Warren in her admirable efforts to TAKE ON Wall Street. We are extremely disappointed in President Obama. This is a clear message that he is indeed Wall Street's friend and not ours. The Banks have again won this round but we are asking all of you to FIGHT - write your Congress people, Representatives, protest, revolt. We cannot abandon Ms. Warren in this time of need. She is the one of the very few who truly wants to help the Middle Class.

Read the development below.

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GOP prepares to gut new consumer protection bureau
In Washington, when you can't kill an idea you hate, you can always go back and maim it.

By Mandel Ngan, AFP


That's what's happening this week in Congress, as House Republicans move to defang, declaw and de-energize a new agency created last year — over their unanimous opposition — to protect consumers.

OPPOSING VIEW: Stop excessive regulation

For decades before the creation of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, consumers were the orphans in a federal regime set up to regulate financial institutions. Anyone with a credit card might remember the consequences.

Banks were allowed to raise credit card interest rates on existing balances at any time for any reason. Regulators did nothing to stop it until 2008. Charging sky-high fees when a consumer missed a payment deadline even by a few minutes? Also fine with regulators. Explaining the rules in language so incomprehensible that a financial wizard would be hard-pressed to figure them out? Ditto.

The full list is much longer, including a major contribution to the ruinous financial crisis of 2008, which was triggered by outrageous mortgage lending practices that never should have been permitted. You might remember the lenders' TV commercials: No income? No assets? No problem.

A splintered collection of regulators just stood by and watched.


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Our view: GOP prepares to gut new consumer protection bureau - USATODAY.com