Richard Cordray is a great pick for this job:
Outgoing Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray will lead enforcement efforts for the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The federal agency was recently created by Congress to protect consumers from unfair practices in credit card, mortgage and other financial transactions.
As attorney general, he has clashed with such Wall Street banks as Wells Fargo and Bank of America. But because federal laws limit the action states can take, he said, “it was difficult to do anything against the nationally chartered banks.” In his new federal post, Cordray said, “I’ll have a clearer field . . . right now, my focus will be big banks.”
That means looking at unfair mortgage, foreclosure and credit card tactics, he said. But he will also be able to investigate and go to court to enforce rules the agency is charged with writing to protect consumers from unfair practices in a wide range of financial transactions, including student loans and debt collection. Cordray sidestepped federal preemptions of state action as attorney general by targeting loan services.
My hope is Issa holds lots and lots of hearings, and Warren and Cordray are called to appear.
Two smart, appealing and effective consumer advocates on the national stage versus House Republicans.
I may have to take off work to watch.
The Grand Panjandrum
Does he require Senate confirmation? If so, I wonder how that will go. If he is such a strong advocate for consumers and “mean” to the banksters he might have a rough time or be held up.
JMY
Further proof that Obama loves Wall Street and the big banks, lol.
Michael
“Listen to that thar smarty-pants librul, thinkin’ that he’s so smart and pickin’ on mah congersman. Somebody aughtten to smack him upsahd his pointy librul hay-ud”.
Odie Hugh Manatee
Unfortunately all I can say is that when it comes to ‘fierce advocates for consumers’ I will reserve judgment. I really hope that this guy is the real deal because consumers NEED someone who will look out for them when it comes to dealing with the government approved loan sharks, I mean bankers. It’ll be interesting to see how the politicians greet him at his new job. If he’s any good I expect to hear from the pols and bankers about how bad he is at his job real soon.
I’ll be keeping an eye on this guy, that’s for sure. More power to him if he’s really on our side.
Kay
@JMY:
Cordray was the highest profile Democrat in Ohio to endorse Obama. It was a risky thing to do. He was out there essentially alone. He doesn’t lack confidence, or courage.
Omnes Omnibus
@Michael: In addition to the Rhodes Scholar, five time Jeopardy champ, law review editor at U of Chicago thing that Cordray has going for him, he is from Grove City, Ohio, a town near Columbus, colloquially known as Grove-tucky. He can come off as the All-American boy from a small town because that really is what he is. He will do just fine.
WereBear
Passionate consumer advocacy is what made Ralph Nader famous.
I dunno what happened.
But I welcome its return!
Dennis SGMM
I don’t. The last thing a fledgling agency needs is to have two of its principle members called into an endless series of kangaroo hearings, particularly when those hearings have little purpose beyond providing Republicans with a platform to bitch about Democrats in general and Obama in particular.
debbie
This is great news! Cordray is like Elliot Spitzer without the whores. I look forward to his testimony before Issa, who will undoubtedly be reduced to tears due to his inability to shake Cordray even the slightest.
Odie Hugh Manatee
@Kay:
That he’s a guy who is willing to stick his neck out, especially in a state like Ohio, is definitely a good sign. We have a severe shortage of Democrats who are capable of doing just that.
If he turns out to be what we’ve been looking for as a great consumer advocate we may have to capture, tag and breed more like him…lol! That’s what you do when you are trying to preserve an endangered species. ;)
Michael
@Omnes Omnibus:
“That communistical Bill Clinton was a Rhodes Scholar, You-Know-Who has a University of Chicago connection too, and Jeopardy is a smarty-pants librul show. Tell me when he shows up on something on CMT…”
debbie
@Dennis SGM:
I don’t think it will be all Republicans. I know more than a few rabid Republican types (Wall St., not Tea Party types) here in Ohio, and they all supported Cordray in the last election against DeWine. In fact, in talking with theme about the move yesterday, one Republican friend was glad that Cordray would be returning to Ohio and was even hoping he’d run for governor.
Omnes Omnibus
@Michael: If you spent any time in central Ohio, you would know that being from Grove City can trump all that.
Kay
@Dennis SGMM:
The whole idea of consumer advocacy has been lost. In my adult lifetime, it’s been completely replaced with “let the buyer beware”. I actually remember when it was different, although I can’t pin-point the shift.
I think it’s a profound change that conservatives were able to effect, and I think we need effective advocates on television to reintroduce the idea that both consumers and business have a duty. It’s a way of thinking that has gotten lost. You simply don’t hear it anymore.
I think Warren can do that. I think she can win the argument.
Mike G
My hope is Issa holds lots and lots of hearings, and Warren and Cordray are called to appear.
Warren and Cordray versus the car thief.
pat
I hope he investigates and prosecutes these cases:
news.firedoglake.com/2010/12/15/servicers-downgraded-credit-score-of-man-who-asked-for-his-note/
Joey Maloney
@Mike G: STEP AWAY FROM THE FED!!
debbie
@ Kay:
It started when Wall Street turned its focus from investing in actual companies to gambling with other people’s money and also when they opened up the trading floor to schmucks from Brooklyn. This new attitude is typified by Goldman Sachs’s defense in the Abacus case that while yes, they’d misled their customers, they should have been smart enough to have figured that out.
El Cid
Issa might just cut their microphones off, or make accusations of corruption at them and then demand that they respond only by written statement. (And with no Barbara Boxer with the authority to reverse that.)
And the Horse He Rode In on
@debbie: “Elliot Spitzer without the whores”. I owe you an internet!
Jeff
@Dennis SGMM: I suspect that the frequency and intensity of the hearings will diminish significantly after the first couple of humiliations at the hands of Warren and Cordray.
kay
@debbie:
I feel as if it’s much deeper and more comprehensive that that. I get people apologizing for being “suckered” into buying a rip-off insurance policy, or a buy-here, pay-here car deal. They’re ashamed, not angry.
Conservatives have been able to sell this myth that people are operating on a “level playing field” when “negotiating” with these various actors and it really isn’t true. One party is sophisticated, and the other isn’t. One party deals for a living, and the other doesn’t.
Hogan
I would have preferred Charlotte Corday, but this could work out.
Zifnab
You better pray neither has ever said one controversial word on camera, missed a mortgage payment in their adult lives, cheated on a spouse in even the most nominal sense, or received too many parking tickets.
This will be nothing but character assassination theater. Consumer advocacy will barely enter the picture.
Marc McKenzie
@Hogan: Works fine for me too.
Of course, we all know that Obama doesn’t care and that he’s Bush 2.0, right?
(Snark button off)
In all seriousness though…this is very good. Add it to the list of achievements of this President. The question is, though, are we going to hear anything about it on the MSM? At HuffPo or DKos or DU or any progressive sites that are currently unloading verbal fire at Obama for “not doing anything” (instead of, you know, attacking Republicans)?
Sorry for the small rant, but it just ticks me off that whenever there is a positive step forward…it’s just ignored and tossed down the memory hole.
@Odie Hugh Manatee:
“Give the man a chance.’
–from The Hunt For Red October (the film)
Let’s see what he can do. But remember those obstructionist Republicans….
debbie
Kay, I agree. Wall Street is just one manifestation of the philosophy of selfishness. I think the overall problem goes back to the loss of community that resulted from the policies of Reagan and is only recently shown in the totally bogus canard of “compassionate conservatism.”
I think the shame you mention comes from the realization that not only can you not trust anyone anymore, but that only an idiot would have thought such a thing in the first place. It’s a real paradigm shift in American society — you’re now supposed to expect to be screwed over. What next, thank them for the screwing?
It didn’t used to be like this. I can remember back when the philosophy of a local department store in Columbus, Lazarus, was “the customer is always right.” You could even expect (and get) an audience with the store’s president, Uncle Chuck, if you didn’t receive satisfaction. Fat chance that happens anymore, anywhere. Of course, no one would have overreached in their grievances either. No multi-million settlements for too-hot coffee.
Omnes Omnibus
@debbie:
That damn McDonald’s coffee case. It has metastasized in public imagination.
debbie
@Omnes Omnibus:
Thanks for the clarification. I didn’t realize she suffered as much as she did, and I don’t dispute that she was definitely entitled to something; but I do question the amount. I think it was excessive.
But that said, she shouldn’t be held up as an example of overly selfish self-interest. There must e at least eleventy-billion other examples I could have come up with.
Karmakin
@Omnes Omnibus: Indeed.
To be honest, the eventual end game of a Consumer Protection Agency I’d like to see, would take cases like that McDonald’s case, and instead of suing them for millions of dollars, would revoke their corporate charter, seize all their assets and basically put them out of business.
Omnes Omnibus
@debbie: Np problem. In my view, the punitive damages were reasonable. A couple of days of coffee profits as punishment seems fair to me. YMMV.
kay
@debbie:
I think they should approach these relationships as win/lose, because that’s how lenders and others approach them. The lender is not their friend, and not doing them some sort of favor. Their objective should be to get the best deal for their family, and they should assume the lender is on the opposite side of that objective. It’s adversarial, no matter what the advertising says. If we’re not going to have “trust” or “fair dealing”, okay. It’s on then. Win/lose.
debbie
@Omnes Omnibus:
But did the punishment really result in anything productive beyond punishment? Is it really possible to ensure no one will ever be burned by another cup of coffee again?
Similarly, I was thinking, listening to the lawsuit against MacDonalds about the Happy Meals this morning, that the sides were already being drawn up: One side seeing this action as a threat to to their precious civil liberties, the other side self-righteously looking to take over the job of protecting “our children” from their actual parents. And nothing in between.
Wouldn’t a more productive solution be something like MacDonalds setting up some sort of make-your-own-Happy Meal menu (pick-any-3-items or one-from-Column-A type of thing) and letting the kid and the parents take it from there?
debbie
Kay, one can certainly view the relationship as adversarial, but it’s such a moving target. The problem with that is that the snakes keep devising snakier ways to dupe the customer. Who can even penetrate the deceptive language being used anymore?
Omnes Omnibus
@debbie: Punitive damages are designed to be civil punishment for wrongdoer. Their purpose is to hurt. As a result, the wrongdoer is supposed to learn a lesson. While no one can ensure that no coffee will ever scald anyone again, McDonald’s no longer serves its coffee at 180-190 degrees. This diminishes the risk of future injury. Also, if you read the link, you will see that McD’s had many opportunities to settle the case for less prior to the trial. They chose to risk trial.
Bella Q
@Omnes Omnibus: Thank you. I’ve been waging a public education campaign about that case for about 15 years now. It is so misunderstood and misrepresented. And as OO noted, punis were imposed as they were designed, to disincentivize bad behavior.
McD’s had determined that it was cost effective to scald people and pay, if the scalded plaintiffs didn’t get worn down by the company’s refusals to cover medical costs, so that they could say they served piping hot coffee. The corporate arrogance on display at trial was what caused the size of the puni award. Read the WSJ’s contemopraneous long account for better information.
Omnes Omnibus
@Bella Q: You and me both. I teach a business law course at the local campus of a university and, when we were doing the section on tort risk, I spent a lot of time on this case. I think it matters.
RosiesDad
Issa is actually a pretty bright guy and based on his appearances on Bill Maher’s show, he seems to be at least willing to engage in civil discourse with people who might not share his ideological value set. Certainly less of an asshat than so many GOP Congressmen. It could be worse–other GOP members of the committee include Dan Burton and Patrick McHenry–guys who are much more likely to go on pointless witch hunts than Issa, IMHO.
agrippa
@Marc McKenzie:
I am not surprised at the verbal fire at Obama. First, a lot of what people wanted to happen, did not happen. It is frustrating. You work through the frustration.
I am not surprised at what was actually passed; I wanted a stronger stimulus and a stronger financial reform bill. I wanted to extend medicare. But, it did not take place.
A lot was accomplished; it just was not as much as I thought needed. Well, you keep going and build upon what you have. You can jump up and down all you want. At the end of the day, you stop doing that and get ready for the next fight.
We will see if the GOP has adult leadership in the House. They may very well play the fool. Those people are, most certainly, capable of that.
El Cid
@RosiesDad: I saw him on Maher and watched his super-reasonable performance, but I don’t think any of that will be true. I think he is a performer and when getting the media spotlight on that will skillfully turn into a much more reasonable guy than will be represented by what he does this session. And then if he does the loonbat work but gets on TV again, he’ll go back to sounding super reasonable about it and how nobody from the Democrat side would work with him.
kay
@RosiesDad:
I really disagree. He’s announced that his whole focus will be discrediting the new agency, with a broad goal of “shrinking government”. That’s a goal that isn’t in his job description, which is “oversight”. He’s supposed to ensure that government operates honestly, re: fraud or mismanagement. His job description doesn’t include shrinking government and drowning it in a bathtub.
That goal far exceeds the power he was given. He’s not even pretending to operate in good faith, or within the relatively narrow confines of his duties.
Martin
@kay: Yeah, Issa is a grade A douchebag. He paid to have the governor recalled so that he could walk in and take over the office avoiding a regular election that he knew he couldn’t win. He then wandered around the state trying to find a district that would elect him to something.
He’ll bring as much integrity to this job as Sarah Palin – and no, that’s not an exaggeration.
kay
@RosiesDad:
To clarify, as an example, Warren, Issa and Cordray can and will agree there shouldn’t be rampant Medicare fraud. Agreed.
What they won’t agree on is whether there should be Medicare.
Issa wouldn’t be holding hearings if the hearings were about “waste and fraud” in government. Adjourn! We all agree on that!
He’s holding hearings to promote his view of what government should look like. All I’m asking is for a strong advocate for the other side (my side) to appear, because I think I know what the hearings are going to be about, and it isn’t waste and fraud in government. They’ll be about government’s role.
satby
@Omnes Omnibus:
That case has always been a sore point for me too, or rather the total misrepresentation of that case in the media.
Quite a bit like Tucker Carlson’s classifying a case John Edwards won on behalf of a 5 year old who was disemboweled by a spa drain pump as a “Jacuzzi case”.
Marc McKenzie
@agrippa:
Agreed. Great reply, and solid points.
“We will see if the GOP has adult leadership in the House. They may very well play the fool. Those people are, most certainly, capable of that.”
Well…they certainly didn’t behave like adults during the Clinton years or the Bush years. A few did (like Chris Shays), but the rest, not so much.
Now that they will have to share the burdens in moving things forward, I’m not convinced. I can only hope that the media spotlight will be brought to bear on them, but I have my doubts.
Shelton Lankford
So you really expect that two decent appointments will stem the tide of rolling corporatism and degradation of the oversight functions that have marked our government in this century?
I give that about the same chance as NASA announcing that a space probe has discovered hibiscus trees growing on Europa.
RosiesDad
@kay: It won’t be Issa’s purview to decide whether or not there should be Medicare.
Further, I don’t think I was clear. I think that should Issa bring Warren and Cordray before his committee, I think he is bright enough to not get into an intellectual battle with them, one that he knows he would lose.
Understand, I love Elizabeth Warren. (I also like Spitzer and if Cordray is Spitzer sans whores, I’m sure I will appreciate his service to the federal government.) If our government was run by people as smart and principled as she is, we wouldn’t be dealing with many of the messes that are currently on the plate.
RosiesDad
@kay:
1. I don’t think holding hearings on “what he thinks government should look like” is within the purview of the committee. If that’s the path the GOP takes over the next two years, God bless them because their time in the majority will be short.
2. I agree completely with your desire for a strong advocate for The People. (my side too.)
@Martin: Issa might be as devoid of integrity as Sarah Palin but he’s a good deal more intelligent. That might make him more reasonable, it also might make him more dangerous. Time will tell.
kay
@RosiesDad:
I think he’ll run the hearings like conservatives run judicial confirmation hearings. They use that process to promote conservative talking points and legal dogma. Successfully, I might add. Is there anyone in this country who isn’t aware of the ridiculous and meaningless phrase “activist judges”?
One of his main complaints is Warren wasn’t confirmed.
That’s a valid complaint, sort of, in the abstract, but holding a confirmation hearing on Warren isn’t his job.
I just think if someone tells you they plan to exceed the scope of the job they’ve taken, crows about it, they probably intend to do that. Why would I think otherwise?
kay
@RosiesDad:
Too, we have long experience with ideological conservatives and hearings. Long. They have a record. It’s reasonable for me to rely on that. When haven’t they over-reached?
Ken Starr seems like a smart and reasonable person. He went completely insane as a prosecutor, for purely ideological and political reasons.
RosiesDad
@kay: Ken Starr seemed to me, at first blush, like a zealot. And a prudish one at that. And that was just how he prosecuted the case. That he was obviously a smart guy was almost irrelevant.
As to the complaint that Warren wasn’t confirmed: True, it wasn’t Issa’s job to confirm. Then too, Bush had a pretty long list of interim appointees where he wanted to circumvent the confirmation process. I figure that if Issa (or any other Republican) bitched about that (none did as I recall) then they could complain about Warren. Otherwise they should STFU.
I think if Issa, or any other Republican for that matter, acts like they were handed a mandate (the polls are pretty clear that they weren’t) then they run the risk of getting the boot in 2012. What I took from this election is that the national tolerance for doctrinaire politicians of any ilk is running pretty low. The electorate that tossed Democrats like tumbleweed last month could easily do the same thing to the GOP in the next cycle. With power comes responsibility. We’ll see how judiciously it is exercised.
The Other Chuck
@Hogan:
I wouldn’t mind seeing Rob Corddry in those House hearings.
4jkb4ia
This is great news for Elizabeth Warren actually having forceful powers even if she has not been formally named to anything.
BruinKid
@Marc McKenzie: To be fair, this was a front page story on DailyKos. I won’t comment on the comments to the story, though. ;-)
BruinKid
@RosiesDad: Well, the problem with that is Issa will almost certainly be safe no matter what. Even in 2008 against a credible challenger, Issa won by 21 points, and this year Issa crushed his opponent by over 31 points, even as California didn’t go through the GOP wave the rest of the country experienced.
Now, Issa may temper what he does so the REST of the GOP doesn’t get tossed, but Issa himself isn’t in any danger. The area he represents is simply too Republican.
RosiesDad
@BruinKid: True.