AlterNet: The Bank Lobby's Insane Assault on Consumer Protection

[marmar]

The Bank Lobby's Insane Assault on Consumer Protection

By Zach Carter, AlterNet. Posted July 20, 2009.

Even after causing millions of foreclosures and the worst recession since the 1930s, the bank lobby is still trying to screw us.



Without question, the most important part of President Barack Obama's new plan for financial regulation is the creation of a special regulator to protect consumers.

If the administration's plan goes through, the existing sieve of consumer protections in the financial world will finally be consolidated into a single agency that answers only to consumers, not bank balance sheets. Anyone who sells financial products to consumers, from the lowliest mortgage brokers to high-flying Wall Street elites, will finally have to play by a single, fair set of rules.

You might think that after watching predatory mortgage lending drive the entire global economy off a cliff, the bank lobby would try to keep a low profile during the debate. But you would be wrong.

The bank lobby, led by the terrifyingly powerful American Bankers Association, is in full-on attack mode. And while Big Finance has several aspects of the Obama overhaul in its sights, it's fighting hardest against the new consumer regulator. The ABA has already launched a barrage of money, distortions, contradictions and outright lies in an attempt to protect its inalienable right to pillage our pocketbooks. ...........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.alternet.org/workplace/141383/the_bank_lobby%27s_insane_assault_on_consumer_protection/

[chill_wind]

1. Chris Dodd..... knows what side HIS bread is buttered on.

"Ed Yingling is an old friend and a person we respect immensely," said Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd, D-Conn., at the July 14 hearing. "All of us here have worked with Ed Yingling for many, many years and have a high regard for him."


:banghead:


Christopher J. Dodd (D)
Top Contributors 2008

SAC Capital Partners $248,200
Citigroup Inc $155,094
Royal Bank of Scotland $142,600
United Technologies $141,500
Bear Stearns $118,550
Goldman Sachs $105,400
Travelers Companies $98,900
American International Group $98,100
The Hartford $92,250
JPMorgan Chase & Co $72,250
Ernst & Young $70,750
Merrill Lynch $68,300
Morgan Stanley $67,100
General Electric $60,850
KPMG LLP $59,900
PricewaterhouseCoopers $59,800
Apollo Advisors $57,900
Bank of America $57,850
UBS AG $54,200
Liberty Mutual Insurance $52,800



http://www.opensecrets.org/pres08/contrib.php?cycle=2008&cid=n00000581

[G_j]

2. ouch!

:banghead: