Obama "ready to fight" for new financial agency

Discussion in 'Politics' started by JDL, Jun 20, 2009.

  1. JDL

    JDL

    WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama said on Saturday he is "ready to fight" for a tough new agency to protect consumers from risky loans and other financial products and lashed out at groups that might stand in the way.

    "These interests argue against reform even as millions of people are facing the consequences of this crisis in their own lives," Obama said in a weekly radio address.

    "These interests defend business-as-usual even though we know that it was business-as-usual that allowed this crisis to take place."

    Obama said opponents were already "mobilizing" against his proposal earlier this week to create a new Consumer Financial Protection Agency as part of the most sweeping set of financial regulatory reforms since the 1930s.

    The new agency, which Congress would have to approve, would have the power to write rules and design or ban financial products. It could also examine firms and impose fines and other penalties on almost any institution that offers products such as home loans or credit cards.

    Critics argue that the new agency would stifle financial product innovation, boost the cost of regulatory compliance and cause prices for consumers to rise.

    "It's going to create exactly the type of duplication, second-guessing and layering that we feared," David Hirschman, president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's Center for Capital Markets, said earlier this week.

    Obama said the proposed agency was badly needed to help consumers make sense of complex financial instruments and to keep loan companies honest.

    "Today, folks signing up for a mortgage, student loan, or credit card face a bewildering array of incomprehensible options. Companies compete not by offering better products, but more complicated ones -- with more fine print and hidden terms," Obama said.

    "The American people sent me to Washington to stand up for their interests. And while I'm not spoiling for a fight, I'm ready for one."

    Senior lawmakers have said they expect to pass financial reform regulation by the end of the year.

    Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, at a Senate hearing on Thursday, faced the most opposition to Obama's proposal to give the Federal Reserve new powers to police broad risks in the economy.

    Some lawmakers believe the central bank failed to halt practices that led to the global financial crisis.

    Giving the Federal Reserve more authority "is like a parent giving his son a bigger, faster car right after he crashed the family station wagon," said Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd, a Connecticut Democrat.
     
  2. JDL

    JDL

    Good
     
  3. Interestingly enough, every major financial decision I have ever made (house, car, student loans, etc) I have always read through the entire set of paper work (including fine print) with the lender and asked questions where I needed clarification. Sometimes I would ask questions the loan officer would not be able to answer they would have to get a legal adviser to help me out.

    The odd part was that every one of them, including my real estate agent, through I was totally nuts for doing this. They could not understand why I would not just sign the paper work and move.

    I have walked away from more than one deal due to uncovering conflicting, unclear, or down right stupid (for me to agree to) terms in paperwork.

    Moral of the story is, READ THE FUCKING PAPER WORK and don't sign up to something you either do not understand or do not agree with.

    If we a society would practice a little more due diligence and exercise some intelligence we would not be in the mess we are. And folks like me and need another government agency sucking up my tax dollars to protect the idiots from themselves.
     
  4. Lucrum

    Lucrum

    BO doesn't really need to create yet another bloated, ineffective, inefficient, unbelievably expensive bureaucracy.



    He just needs to give the average consumer - a brain.


    Of course the downside would be no more votes for BO, so I wouldn't count on it.