Obama Administration Unveils Consumer Protection Agency Legislation

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http://www.nasdaq.com/aspx/stock-market-news-story.aspx?storyid=200906301149dowjonesdjonline000460&title=updateobama-administration-unveils-consumer-protection-agency-legislation

The consumer protection agency envisioned by the Obama administration would have wide latitude to crack down on abusive financial products, assess fees against financial firms, and subpoena information in the name of protecting consumers, according to a legislative proposal released Tuesday.

The U.S. Treasury Department, in unveiling the 152-page document, put down an aggressive marker on a piece of legislation the financial services industry is already gearing up to oppose. If agreed to by Congress, the measure would for the first time create a single agency that would have broad authority to write and enforce rules against any firm that provides financial products to consumers, including mortgages and credit cards.

"This agency will have only one mission - to protect consumers - and have the authority and accountability to make sure that consumer-protection regulations are written fairly and enforced vigorously," Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said in a statement.

(snip)
Senate Banking Chairman Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., who will lead that chamber's efforts to move legislation, offered a stern warning to financial services firms that have already signalled they plan to lobby aggressively against new consumer protections.

"It is unbelievable that some of the same irresponsible actors that helped create the current financial mess would argue that we are doing too much for consumers," Dodd said in a statement.

Obama Unveils Plan for New Consumer Agency
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/06/30/politics/main5125304.shtml

[scheming daemons]

1. Yet more positive change..... this President has been EXACTLY what we've needed...

[babylonsister]

2. Does anyone remember when the previous admin did anything

with our best interests at heart? I don't.

GOBAMA!

[SpartanDem]

6. No, not a single thing

[Political Heretic]

8. No but I remember when after Enron they issued virtually the same statement promising tough new

protections.

So, while I am cautiously optimistic, preparing to get myself familiar with the details of the proposal, I have heard all this before from Washington.

[katandmoon]

3. This is good news -- as long as it is not run by people like Geithner and Holder

[seabeckind]

4. I thought we already had this

Sounds like the same bs we got after 9-11 and we suddenly needed a DHS to do the things the admin was supposed to be doing all along.

I know it sounds like a repub argument but when the hell are we going to enforce the laws that are ALREADY on the books? This is just a CYA.

We don't need another law, we need the administrators in this gov't to start doing their fucking job instead of worrying that they might upset the corporations where they'll go to work after they walk out that revolving door. Like that fucking Geithner.

...excuse my french.

[babylonsister]

5. According to the article, this is a first...

If agreed to by Congress, the measure would for the first time create a single agency that would have broad authority to write and enforce rules against any firm that provides financial products to consumers, including mortgages and credit cards.

[truedelphi]

9. That's my take too.

The Corproate Empty Suits are very good at putting in another bureaucracy.

First of all, we need to re-instate Glass Steagall. We need to abolish the fancy pants financial instruments like CDO's and naked Credit Default Swaps.

We don't need another agency with two million pages of documents written in legalese to "Straighten out the financial world and protect consumers."

If he wanted to protect "consumers," Obama would support Single Payer Universal Health Care -
that would enable some of us to avoid going broke with medical bills and perhaps thus ensure our kids get to inherit a little money with which to invest.

[Political Heretic]

7. I can't comment on specifics until I have a chance to familiarize myself with the proposal....

It sounds good to me so far.

Typically where this falls apart is between the proposal and the bill that actually gets out of committee...

It's important for anyone concerned to not STOP paying attention after the initial announcement and instead TRACK THIS each step of the way. It should go without saying that the agenda of some of the most powerful forces in Washington will be to water this down until it is toothless and irrelevant while still getting enough fools to cheer its passage. We must not let that happen!