Elizabeth Warren calls out Republicans for trying to stall financial regulation: "Blocking Rich Cordray is about keeping the game rigged so that consumers remain in the dark — and a few bad actors can rake in big profits."
But let’s take a step back here for a moment to appreciate exactly how un-politician-like Sen. Warren is acting when she makes speeches like this. President Obama passed over Warren in naming Cordray to head the CFPB — even though she was the driving force behind the agency’s creation – because the administration was concerned that she was too outspoken to get confirmed in the Senate. (Obviously, as it turns out, it really didn’t matter whom Obama nominated because Republicans are blocking Cordray anyway.)
In other words, Warren’s support for Cordray despite being passed over for his position for being too awesomeoutspoken gains her nothing politically. She’s just doing it because she genuinely believes in stopping financial institutions from causing another recession. Perhaps my expectations have become a bit low, but I find this exceedingly impressive coming from an elected official.
Warren went on to point out that, although government regulation is always a controversial subject, federal agencies actually have an excellent history of protecting consumers:
It’s thanks to federal agencies that no one has to worry that those white pills are baking soda instead of antibiotics or that the paint on the baby’s crib is laced with lead.
Because look, no one likes regulation. No one likes “government red tape,” as lobbyists have skillfully spun it. But you know what people like even lessthan government red tape? World wide financial meltdowns. Dying of a bacterial infection. Babies getting lead paint poisoning.
If it takes a little red tape to take care of those things, I’m okay with that.
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