Obama and Barney Frank’s Consumer Financial Protection Agency (CFPA)

Obama’s White House speech on Friday reiterated his support for the creation of a Consumer Financial Protection Agency (CFPA) (with Barney Frank of all people). This idea was first proposed in June as his “transformational” plan to overhaul Wall Street regulations. According to Reason.com, if created the CFPA would:

If created, the CFPA would be tasked with ensuring that consumers who use financial products like bank accounts, mortgages, and credit cards are protected from the evil corporations that are out to get their money. In a sense, it is a noble idea, stemming from the mind of a noble woman, Congressional Oversight Panel Chair Elizabeth Warren. But it’s going to protect us to death.

In its current form, the CFPA will pile on burdensome new rules, restrict innovation, hurt small businesses, increase the cost of doing business, spawn a massive bureaucracy, and create severe conflicts between state and federal law. Frank’s proposed version would even allow the new agency to write and enforce laws beyond the scope of existing legislative authority. There are good ways of reforming consumer protection. The Consumer Financial Protection Agency is not one of them.

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October 10, 2009 · Filed Under General Politics


Comments

  • Pat

    After protecting GM and Wall Street Banks, don’t Americans deserve the same reciprocity?