The following is taken from an article that appeared on the Wells Fargo intranet today (the excerpt in quotes is from the article, the rantings at the bottom of the page are from yours truly…
“Dawning of a new agency
In addition to statutory provisions arising from the Dodd-Frank Act, a new federal agency has been established—the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau—which has been the topic of much commentary.
The new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is responsible for regulating consumer financial products such as home mortgages and credit cards. The bureau summarizes its goals this way:
“Educate: An informed consumer is the first line of defense against abusive practices. The CFPB will work to promote financial education.
“Enforce: Like a neighborhood cop on the beat, the CFPB will supervise banks, credit unions, and financial companies, and it will enforce Federal consumer financial laws.
“Study: The consumer bureau will gather and analyze available information to better understand consumers, financial services providers, and consumer financial markets.”
The bureau assumes authority on July 21.”
This agency is being headed up by Elizabeth Warren (you can google her). She’s an academic (Economics) who has never held down a real job in her entire life. She hates the free market and believes strongly that Government’s main role is to intervene and control business – ESPECIALLY the BIG BAD BANKS!!! Even though the agency falls under the Treasury Department, she does not answer to the Treasurer (Geithner in this case), she has an unlimited budget (via the Treasury printing presses) which means that she does not even have to answer to Congress (because they do not fund the agency); she reports only to the President! Tell me where the checks and balances are!!?? This is REAL scary shit! Her word is law! No wonder bank stocks are sucking the fat lady’s ass… This whole governmental circle jerk is already costing Wells Fargo $1 billion (with a “B” kids) a quarter in lost revenue. Think of the knock on effects… banks adopt austerity measures; less $$ available for new projects, lay offs, over all ‘belt tightening’; this means less money going to vendors (lay offs at secondary or tertiary levels) , more people out of work (like I said, scary shit) and if you don’t think this is true, you don’t have to look very far for signs… Wells Fargo profits were up 24% year over year but our stock shit the bed (down over $1 per share), why you ask? because revenues where down and expenses were up… directly tied to our buddies Messrs Dodd and Frank (who in my opinion should both be in a small dark cell on Reikers Island with a big hairy dude called Bubba, but I digress). Anyway, that’s my rant for the day. Ya’ll have a beautiful weekend!!!
