Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Democrats Against Democracy

Aside from this whole thing where Obama simply ignores the constitution by pretending that Congress is in recess, the fact that liberals support the CFPB because it is protected from democracy is disturbing.  Can our system be corrupt and self-serving at times?  Sure, but it is the best we got.  Creating government entities which are immune from control by elected from officials and which rely solely on the virtues and judgement of bureaucrats, is, dare I say, fascist.


The bigger question is why Republicans oppose an agency that would stop financial companies from cheating and taking advantage of ordinary Americans, which happened to millions during the mortgage mania. They complain that the current setup leaves the bureau "unaccountable" to the American people, in part, because its funding comes automatically out of the Federal Reserve's budget rather than through the congressional appropriations process.
Unfortunately, the interests of the American people and individual members of Congress are not always one and the same. The funding mechanism was created precisely to remove the power of the purse from the industry's handmaidens in Congress. During 2007 and 2008, the height of Wall Street excess, conservatives cut the funding for the Securities and Exchange Commission, whose job it was to patrol the markets. They apparently want the ability to deny the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau the means to stand between the unscrupulous financial salesmen and their unsophisticated prey.

4 comments:

CI-Roller Dude said...

I find neither party is worthy of running this great country. Is this the best America can come up with?
It seems like we vote for the one who's not as bad as the other one.

James B. said...

Oh, I am not exactly a big fan of the Republicans right now, although I tend to lean that way. The answer isn't to make the government less accountable though.

And hey, didn't we meet on Eagle Base once?

CI-Roller Dude said...

SFOR 14 tht3

James B. said...

Shhh.. this is an insecure channel...