The Future of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau(CFPB) is an important agency. It was a part of the Dodd-Frank bill that passed in 2010 under Obama and was set up by Elizabeth Warren.  Dodd-Frank was enacted after the wall street crash in 2008 as a way to get fix the economy and hold the big banks accountable so this doesn't happen again.  The CFPB helps people who have been cheated by banks with mortgages and other investments. President Trump is against this bill. One of his promises is to repeal the bill. The Financial CHOICE act was passed through the house on June 8th. It repeals major parts of Dodd-Frank, and makes the law useless. Luckily it is not likely to pass the Senate to make it the President's desk in its current form.

The future of the CFPB is in question because Trump is so against it that he wants to get of the agency all together. Recently the head of the CFPB Richard Cordray has stepped down. This means that at some point Trump will appoint a new director of the agency. I don't trust him to appoint a competent person the head of the agency. In-fact I expect him to appoint the complete wrong person for the job. He has a history of doing this with other appointments such as Betsy DeVos and Jeff Sessions. He has already shown willingness to appoint somebody who is against the agency. He appointed Mick Mulvany to be the director of the agency. Someone who thinks that the agency is a "waste of time" according the New York Times.

The CFPB has done amazing things. It gives money back to people who have been cheated out of money by banks and other investment companies such as credit card companies and insurance companies. It was set up by Elizabeth Warren who is trying her best to defend the agency. It has given $11.9 billion dollars to 29 million consumers. It has handled 1.2 million complaints and 97% of consumers get there claims handled in a timely manner. The agency also makes sure that the information that these companies give out are easy for consumers to understand. It also stops mortgage companies from giving out claims with higher fees and rates. Basically they can't guide you to get a loan that gives them a higher commission. The agency has it's holes but at least it is to use the words of Elizabeth Warren "a cop on the beat". It needs refining instead of being gotten rid of.

The critics of the agency say that it is bad for banks because it doesn't give them the freedom to do riskier investments so it stops the banks from earning more money. It wouldn't be a watchdog agency if the banks liked what it was doing. So yes the banks don't like it, but that is a good thing in my eyes. Another part of Dodd-Frank is trying to break up the banks that were too big to fail. Basically they don't want the banks to be so huge that if they fail they crash the economy again. If the banks are doing risky investments with the consumers than when they fail the consumer fails the country fails as well. That was the purpose of the Glass-Steagall act was to separate the investment banking from the regular consumer banking. Dodd-Frank is a liter version of that. It needs more teeth but it's the start of something good.

There is a legal battle going on over who is the actual director of the agency. I am in no way a legal expert and am not pretending to be, this is just my opinion on what I have read and have heard. The two acts that are in conflict is the Dodd-Frank act itself and the Vacancy act. According the Vacancy Act the President can appoint someone to the head of an agency when there is a vacancy, unless there is already written into the law a succession plan. Dodd-Frank has a succession plan for the CFPB where the deputy director becomes the acting director until the President and congress appoint a new director. The woman named to head the agency is Leandra English, but the President appointed the head of the Office of Management and Budget Mick Mulvany. On Monday they both showed up for work with Mulvany bringing doughnuts and telling them to ignore directives from English. English has sued Trump and Mulvany saying that according to Dodd-Frank she is the rightful director. I think that it is pretty clear that she is the interim director. According to the Vacancy Act if there is a plan in place than that takes precedent. Hopefully she wins the case before too much damage is done.

Keeps your eyes peeled for this one. The CFPB is an important agency that has done a lot of great work. Of course there are issues with which is why you are supposed to make it better. A lot of things in government don't work the best that they can. However, we need to make them better instead of getting rid of them. If we are going to be a government for the people then we need agencies that are going to look out for the people. We need the safety-nets so we can catch people as they fall on hard times. No one else is going to do it so the government needs to step in and do it. Agencies like this will do wonders for years to come if we can stop it being handicapped by Trump and Mulvany and the like than we will have a better country. This is not going to be easy but it is a fight that we can win in the public sphere. So make enough noise to make sure they know that we don't like this and will not vote for you if you keep doing things like this.

sources:
New York Times article about the legal battle.
Information on Dodd-Frank and the CFPB
the website for the CFPB

Al Franken Vs Roy Moore

In light of all the sexual allegations coming forward it was bound to hit politics sooner or later. The first one to hit was a man named Roy Moore, a GOP senate candidate from Alabama. He supposedly molested teenagers. It also hit the Democratic side. It hit a sitting senator from Minnesota Al Franken. He was alleged to have forcibly kissed a coworker when he was comedian, he also took an inappropriate picture where he was pretending to grab her breasts while she was sleeping. Both of those are wildly inappropriate and should be dealt with in there own right. Sexual assault is wrong. I shouldn't have to say that but with this climate I feel the need to spell out my views in that regard.

The real question is: is this a partisan issue? Is one side worse at this than the other? The answer to that is no. This not a partisan issue, not even in the slightest. So what is the point of me typing this if it isn't a partisan issue? Well a lot of people are brushing what Roy Moore did under the rug and attacking Al Franken. This unfortunately includes President pussy grabber himself. He said repeatedly that Moore denies it so that lets him off the hook. A lot of people are crucifying Franken, rightfully so might I add, at the cost of propping up Moore. This may sound hypocritical but what Moore did was worse than what Franken did.

Moore allegedly stripped a 14 year old down to her underwear and touched her in places I dare not speak and forced her to do the same to him. Franken forced a woman to kiss him and tried and failed to make a joke in poor taste. Those things are punished differently because they are different crimes. One is sexual assault and the other is child molestation. At the end of the day what both of them did was wrong, however, one of them had a pattern of doing this thing that he knew was wrong where the other is seeking redemption and fully cooperating with an investigation into him. I understand that they both did something wrong and I fully acknowledge that, but when you vilify the wrong person and speak of there behavior as acceptable then we have a problem.

The justifications for what Roy Moore are just as bad as what he did. Saying that the girls looked older then they were or that it happened in the Bible so it's okay. Just because a girl looks older then she is does not give you the right to touch her in the ways in which he did. Especially if you knew and there is evidence that he knew. The evidence is that at the time he was a judge and he offered to look after the girl while the mother went in for a custody battle. If the mother is going in for a custody battle than you as a judge would understand that this girl is a minor. You have no business hitting on her getting her number and then taking advantage of her innocence. Also just because it happened in the Bible doesn't mean it is right. So can we kill an entire race of people because it happened in the Bible, of course not. Things have to be put into perspective and we have to look at the Bible in a way that makes sense. These same people would say that polygamy is wrong, but according to there logic it should be okay because it happened in the Bible. With all this being said what Al Franken did was also wrong on many different levels. 

Al Franken took advantage of the fact that he was working with a woman underneath him. He had limited power over her and tried to take advantage of that. If a woman says that she doesn't want to kiss you, you then have no right to then kiss her. It is disgusting and will sit with her for the rest of her life. Dealing with the moment that a man took advantage of you. Trying to use your body for his own pleasure. It is wrong disgusting and he should not be in the Senate because of it. In fact he should be in jail for it. 

The justifications for Al Franken are also just as bad. Just because someone genuinely apologizes does not negate what happens. If I murder someone and apologize afterwards, the person is still dead. I give him credit for his statement because I think it was genuine, and the right response. However a response does not make up for what you did. You still have to own up for what you did and cooperate with the investigation and comply with whatever happens to you. The woman has to live with what you did and you don't get off by just saying sorry.

With all these allegations floating around one thing that is missing is punishment. They were hounded in the media and by the public, so it is now time for the courts to take action. Some of these men have lost there job, but that isn't enough. They need to see there day in court otherwise this will keep happening. The woman who so bravely came out will not do it in vein. We need to show the world and the woman of the world that you don't get away with doing this so easily. The part that terrifies me is that we have a President who admittedly does this to woman. He shows no remorse for his actions and takes sides when certain people who are accused get a pass because he is a part of your tribe. It shows that for him he going to play politics with this issue, and we cannot do that with this issue. A seat in the senate is not worth the pain that it causes woman when men like him go unpunished.

What Roy Moore did was worse than Al Franken but at the end of the day does it matter? No, it doesn't. The fact that one man was a child molester and the other was not doesn't mean anything if they don't have jobs in the senate. We win one and we lose one that is how this goes. Let's grow from this experience and use this example to better ourselves. People of Alabama if you are listening, don't vote this monster into office. People of Minnesota if you are listening, a Senate seat is not worth having a sexual predator in the seat. We have to be principled and objective. If one side does it and it is wrong that does not mean the other side can do it. 

Who am I?

So who am I?

I am a political science student at Parkland Community College. I'm also a cashier at a cafe on the university campus. I am a Mixed (black and white) 23 year old. I am liberal and vote Democrat, however I still want to hold them accountable. The purpose of this blog is to start a conversation. I hope to keep the conversation civil and no personal attacks, however you are fully allowed to attack ideas and disagree with one another. My grammar is atrocious so don't hold that against me, I will try my best.

What this blog is about is politics. In this ever growing world of politics and this "era of Trump" the need for young voices is crucial. The country no the world needs more voices in this topic. I aim to be one of those voices. A voice for in what my eyes is a good cause. The ability to change the world is in my hands and I wish to use my voice (aka a keyboard) to change it. I am a sentimental liberal hippie who looks at the world half-full. Pessimism is not an option and optimism is the answer.

In the first paragraph I spoke of a conversation. I implore you to respond to this with either disagreements or agreements. I love the idea of open debate and conversation. Nothing can be done without and the world will never progress. As I said before to keep the insults to a minimum, I will not tolerate it. Throwing insults and being disrespectful get us nowhere. Also I will respond to as much as I can and if you want me to talk about anything just let me know.

Background is very important in conversation so you know where I am coming from. My mother is a teacher in social justice education. Also my father has a masters degree in political science but ironically works with educational technology. Me and my family talk a lot about politics and it has always been an interest of mine. I also come from a middle-class family that is divorced. I still have a good relationship with my parents. I went to a Christian high school but am currently on a truth journey where I am seeking out what I believe. I am in a space where I am questioning things and seeking answers but haven't found them yet. Like I said I have always voted democrat and I voted for Obama twice and Hillary Clinton. I am a Bernie Sanders supporter but I didn't vote in the primary because to be honest I forgot about it. I invite conservative voices in this blog. I invite everybody to respond in a respectful manner.

I hope you follow my blog, I will post regularly and try to keep up with comments. Read and respond at your pleasure. I can't stress enough to keep the conversation civil and respectful.