Urge Obama to Recess Appoint Warren to Consumer Bureau
June 15, 2011
If Elizabeth Warren, who has led efforts to establish a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to protect Americans from being ripped off by banks and mortgage companies isn’t already a hero to millions of Americans, she should be. No advocate for economic fairness has spoken out and acted more forcefully to stop working families from being fleeced by Wall St. than this Oklahoma-born Harvard professor.
That is why anti-worker senators in Washington are trying to keep President Obama from making a recess appointment to empower Warren to lead the agency that she has worked so hard to establish
The AFL-CIO’s Now Blog calls upon all trade unionists to urge President Obama to appoint Warren. The blog quotes an article in The New Yorker on Warren, who, the blog reports, has worked to “lift the curtain that keeps so many consumers in the dark on their financial products, from mortgages to credit cards:”
The core principle of Warren’s work is also a cornerstone of economic theory: well-informed consumers make for vigorous competition and efficient markets.That idea is embodied in the design of the new agency, which focuses on improving the information that consumers get from banks and other financial institutions, so that they can do the kind of comparison shopping that makes the markets for other consumer products work so well.
“Informed consumers, what a radical idea,” says the AFL-CIO.
The Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection (CFPB) is an independent bureau within the Federal Reserve System that will help empower consumers with the information they need to make financial decisions that are best for them and their families.Created by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank Act), the CFPB will work to promote fairness and transparency for mortgages, credit cards, and other consumer financial products and services. The CFPB will set and enforce clear, consistent rules that allow banks and other consumer financial services providers to compete on a level playing field and that let consumers see clearly the costs and features of products and services.
Click here to urge President Obama to use a recess appointment for Warren.
Photo used under a Creative Commons license form Flickr user alancleaver_2000.
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