Travesty

After the financial meltdown in 2007-2008, many people were rightly concerned that their money was not being managed appropriately. Long before the actual disaster, Congress was warned by Brooksley Born of the CFTC that risks of disaster were mounting. But Congress paid no attention because they were betting both sides of the debacle. So multiple disasters ensued (and despite what anyone told you, this was not because the federal government wanted banks to issue risky loans. the banks made their own decisions to do so and they continue to do so as some of you know). I hate to admit that I paid attention when so many people didn't, but that's just what happened and I sold my big money pit house and bought a smaller one and made a pile of money to boot.

But what about other people who either had no clue or trusted those creepy financial advisors? Congress and the federal system had no control over their behavior. There were no promises of good behavior or even honesty. We had regressed to the old traveling medicine man days where the advisor was here today with a handshake and gone tomorrow with your money. It wasn't just the common many who was afflicted--there were some long standing firms who went belly up because they chased that ephemeral gold too. All those smart young people with computers and greedy ideas transformed our financial world.

Luckily there were some people who were still paying attention including Elizabeth Warren. She fought for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to be established and she helped write the rules and regulations governing its maintenance, advising Barney Frank and Christoper Dodd prior to being elected to the Senate. One of the rules everyone wanted established was independence for the agency so no political or personal bias could sway its governance.

Guess what? Richard Cordray got fed up with the current administration and quit, but he knew that the rules of the bureau allowed him to elevate the deputy underneath him. Trump, in another of his grandiose gestures, said that Mick Mulvaney, the angry leprechaun who worships Ayn Rand, should lead the bureau.This is the same Mick Mulvaney who said multiple times that the bureau was one of the worst examples of federal overreach that he had ever witnessed.

So as the Marx brothers asked, "Who are you going to believe--me or you lying eyes?" Watch out folks--the dam is about to break.