Richard Cordray

The primary objection to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), created as part of the mammoth Dodd-Frank legislation passed in 2010, has been its unaccountability. It "is ensconced within the Federal Reserve," which frees it from congressional and presidential oversight. Even the Fed "is statutorily prohibited from 'intervening' in CFPB affairs." It should surprise no one that…

‘It’s not about the man.” That’s what Senate Democrats said about GOP opposition to Consumer Financial Protection Bureau director Richard Cordray before his successful confirmation vote on Tuesday, after enough Republicans caved to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s threat of the “nuclear option” of ending the 60-vote cloture rule for debate on nominees.  “There are no objections to him on…

Banks are bad because they make a profit on things requested by their customers, according to both NBC and CBS. The two networks highlighted a study released June 11 by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau [CFPB] that said banks made $12.6 billion in overdraft fees and non-sufficient funds from bounced checks in 2011. Though only 20 percent of customers actually opt-in for overdraft…

Here is the operating motto of the Obama White House: "So let it be written, so let it be done!" Like Yul Brynner's Pharaoh Ramses character in Cecil B. DeMille's "The Ten Commandments," the demander in chief stands with arms akimbo issuing daily edicts to his constitution-subverting minions with an imperious wave of his hand. His entourage of insatiable usurpers never rests. Can't delude…

Scott Whitlock reported Thursday that ABC presented President Obama's non-recess "recess appointment" of financial regulator Richard Cordray as a "Consumer champion. Can this brand new man in town help you with your mortgage, your car loan, your credit cards?" James Taranto at The Wall Street Journal discovered that the Obama administration had exactly the same spin. Imagine that. Cordray on…

World News anchor Diane Sawyer on Wednesday hailed a questionably legal recess appointment by Barack Obama, praising the incoming arrival of a "consumer champion" who will "help" Americans with their financial problems. The program offered no skepticism as to whether a new, unrestrained bureau could harm businesses in America. Sawyer teased the program, "Consumer champion. Can this brand new…

Washington Post scribes David Nakamura and Felicia Sonmez dutifully set out today to paint President Obama as the hero of the masses for his "bold act of political defiance" in naming "Richard Cordray as head a new consumer watchdog agency Wednesday, bypassing Republican opposition in the Senate that derailed his nomination last month." Nakamura and Sonmez waited until the 10th paragraph in…

Wrapping himself in the mantle of Theodore Roosevelt's "National Greatness" agenda, President Obama urged the nation to stand strong and unite behind ... his umpteenth regulatory czar. Nothing symbolizes American strength and vigor more than another unaccountable Washington bureaucrat. If Richard Cordray, the stalled White House nominee to enforce the Dodd-Frank financial bureaucracy, is not…