Know the Enemy

We’ve blogged a lot lately about the Obama administration’s proposed Consumer Financial Protection Agency.  And we’ve created a web page that provides summary information on why and how the CFPA would be a vast improvement over what we have now, as well as a set of links to key sources for those who want to know more.  We think that the case for the CFPA is extraordinarily strong, backed by both compelling arguments and a large body of empirical evidence.

We’ve also mentioned more than once the high priority that the financial industry and its allies place on killing this bill, and their well-funded efforts to do so.

If you’re interested in seeing one aspect of the industry’s campaign in action, you can now visit a slick new website that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has created to enlist its hundreds of thousands of members in the anti-CFPA crusade.  There is nothing subtle about the website’s name – http://www.stopthecfpa.com – or about the heavy-handed distortions that the Chamber is disseminating.  As it characterizes things, the CFPA will be a massive government bureaucracy with unprecedented power, choking even the neighborhood butcher shop that lets its customers run up a tab, dictating what kinds of products can and can’t be offered, raising costs for both consumers and businesses, and making the regulatory system more complex and confusing.  If you think that the current proposals for health insurance reform include government “death panels,” then you will probably find the Chamber’s assertions persuasive.

The Chamber, which calls itself “the world’s largest business federation,” is a powerful force.  So if you want to know what the other side is saying, check out this site.

(Photo: NIOSH)