Subject To Change

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (previously) is practically the only US regulator we can be proud of – founded by Elizabeth Warren before she ran for the Senate, the CFRB is a consumer protection agency that has been at the forefront of reining in criminal activities like Wells Fargo’s nationwide frauds and Equifax’s dox attack on the USA, as well as being the best defense Americans have against predatory loan-sharks masquerading as “payday lenders,” abusive debt-collectors, racial discrimination in lending, and the student loan racket.

So naturally big business and Trump hate it.

Last month, the GOP reversed the CFRB rule that ensured that Americans could sue banks that defrauded them, but that was just for starters.

Now, CFRB director Richard Cordray is stepping down, likely in a bid for to be the next governor of Ohio, and his departure is a dream come true for the likes of Ted Cruz, who called the consumer protection agency “an out-of-control bureaucracy” and introduced legislation to abolish it; it’s also great news for Senator Ben Sasse [R-NE] who said that “King Richard” should be fired.

The CFRB has been buried in an avalanche of frivolous, well-funded lawsuits, while the likes of Breitbart has whipped up its low-information base to call for the demise of the bureau. These alt-right hordes have been supplemented by massive, well-funded astroturf efforts that also offered huge paydays to the likes of Newt Gingrich.

There are unbelievably large pools of dark money sloshing around in the fight to kill the CFRB. Organizations like the “U.S. Consumers Coalition” won’t reveal their funders and their principal competitors for anti-CFRB is “Protect America’s Consumers,” whose funders are also a secret. But their attack-ads, deceptive reports, and planted news stories are very visible indeed.

Trump in Missouri Lays Groundwork for Tax Overhaul but Offers No Details

They have been telling this lie since Reagan in 1980. It was bullshit then, and it’s bullshit now. Tax cuts on wealthy people and tax cuts on corporations do not make life better for the middle class or anyone who isn’t already wealthy.