For what reason?

 The cruelty is the point?

We no longer have a CFPB.  

Medical debt is the #1 cause of bankruptcy in this country.

Dear MAGA, they hate you

 Not only will you be paying more for everything while the super wealthy get even wealthier, you're being offered on a silver platter to data grifters.

Trump 2.0 - No more conflicts of interest

 

The only interest of the Trump regime is self-interest.  This is a smash and grab regime.  They absolutely do not care about America as a nation or Americans.  Only as a source of riches, ill-gotten or otherwise.

If you're nearby, get there

 

They probably should have thrown together a rally everywhere they could.

Sand in the gears of authoritarianism: Lawsuits vs. Trump 2.0

 

Keeping track of all the litigation against the Trump regime:

(click any of the graphics below)

UPDATE 04/17/2025:  Hmmmm

Judge comes through on CFPB

 

Trump 2.0 - Up is down, black is white

 New rules.

Gaslighting is authoritarian.

UPDATE 03/28/2025:

All chaos, all the time

 

UPDATE 02/28/2025:

In preparation for shuttering its windows, I guess?

UPDATE 03/28/2025:

Move fast and break things

 

The cuts largely targeted contractors and so-called probationary employees, workers who have served less than two years at the agency. Sources tell WIRED that the CFPB’s enforcement division was hit hard, but it’s unclear how many employees were let go.

Workers were informed that they had been fired with a frenetic email delivered around 9pm ET on Tuesday night. An evidently failed mail merge meant that some affected employees were addressed as [EmployeeFirstName][EmployeeLastName], [Job Title], [Division].

“This is to provide notification that I am removing you from your position of [Job Title] and federal service consistent with the above references,” the email from acting chief human capital officer Adam Martinez says. “Unfortunately, the Agency finds that that [sic] you are not fit for continued employment because your ability, knowledge and skills do not fit the Agency’s current needs.”

  Wired

Pathetic. Unethical. Disgusting.

On Friday, staff for Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency shut down a portion of the agency’s homepage after a day of struggling to obtain access to the CMS and other systems. WIRED reported last week that three DOGE staffers, including Gavin Kliger and Nikhil Rajpal were given access to CFPB’s HR, procurement, and financial infrastructure. The DOGE workers were later granted access to all of the agency’s systems on Friday, Bloomberg reported this week, including bank examination and enforcement records.

[...]

Just before 10:30pm ET on Friday, sources say someone who appeared to have administrative privileges, accessed the agency server using Secure Shell (SSH), a protocol that allows remote control of a computer over a network. Bypassing the content management system, they [unpublished] the homepage file, causing a portion of the CFPB homepage to display a “404: Page not found”, notice typical of a website that has been deleted or is otherwise missing. The remainder of the site was functional, including submission forms for industry whistleblowers and consumer complaints.

Around 11pm on Friday, the CFPB’s X account disappeared and shortly after, according to a CFPB staffer, DOGE left the building.

DOGE needs to leave the planet on one of Musk's rockets to Mars.

"They said they would follow protocol but repeatedly did not," one says, noting that the level of access these staffers have could allow them to lock others out of the building, take down the website, and “obstruct the bureau’s ability to carry out its mandate.”

One source at CFPB on Friday says they saw two young DOGE staffers wandering through the halls of the building trying to open doors.

“DOGE pulled a Darth Vader in cloud city where they came in promising to respect our rules and ask for read access and then tonight [Friday] at 6 they took a heel turn and demanded website access,” another CFPB source told WIRED at the time.

In a pair of emails sent Saturday and Monday, [newly installed director Russell] Vought effectively ordered all work at the agency to stop, freezing various enforcement efforts and work on regulations that would affect payment programs run by Big Tech companies.

[...]

The CFPB was established by the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act, a sweeping piece of legislation that imposed significant regulatory reform in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. Its remit is to protect consumers from unfair or deceptive financial practices, and the agency claims to be responsible for $19.7 billion in consumer relief since its inception, as well as $5 billion in civil penalties.

[...]

Musk wrote “RIP CFPB” with a gravestone emoji in an X post Friday afternoon.

So...not fired.

UPDATE 02/22/2025:

UPDATE 03/28/2025:

No more consumer protections for you

 Major architect of Project 2025 is now head of the CFPB.

UPDATE 02/10/2025:

Welcome to the resistance, Glenn.

UPDATE 02/22/2025:

UPDATE 03/28/2025:

Trump 2.0 - We don't need consumer protection

 

I doubt MAGA would notice if there were no CFPB.  I mean, they are suckered by every little Trump grift that comes along.

UPDATE 02/22/2025:

UPDATE 03/28/2025:

Credit reform

You know what would prevent people's futures from being ruined by a medical emergency?  Universal health care.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Another step in the right direction at SCOTUS

If I were to bet the two dissenting votes were from Thomas and Alito, would you bet against me?*

None of these small decisions should give us any hope that they'll make the right one about Trump's immunity claim. Plus, by taking that case and sitting on it, they've already done Trump a solid, ensuring it won't go to trial before the elections.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

*It was Alito and Gorsuch!

There goes another one

The top federal official in charge of advocating for students dealing with student loan debt resigned Monday, reportedly accusing the Trump administration of abandoning protections for students.

Seth Frotman is the Student Loan Ombudsman at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, an office that was created under Dodd-Frank.

[...]

"Unfortunately, under your leadership, the bureau has abandoned the very consumers it is tasked by Congress with protecting," Frotman wrote to the Office of Management and Budget's director Mick Mulvaney, according to NPR. "Instead, you have used the bureau to serve the wishes of the most powerful financial companies in America."

[...]

"The truth is that the president’s consumer protection agenda is a dumpster fire,” said Christopher Peterson, director of financial services at the Consumer Federation of America, in a statement. “The administration has seized control of an independent consumer watchdog, and is strangling one of the only agencies in Washington dedicated to looking out for the rights of ordinary Americans.”

  ABC

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

The paranoia of the Trump administration

It's not just Pruitt.



Fuck the consumers, it's Mulvaney getting the protection.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Leaky ship

Mick Mulvaney [acting head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau], who is also the White House budget director, said some CFPB staffers have damaged the bureau's reputation with leaks to reporters he says are inaccurate.

[...]

"What's really disappointing to me is it undermines the credibility of the institution,” Mulvaney told a conference of community bankers in Washington. He said he wants the CFPB to be viewed with respect across ideological lines and cease leaks he says “makes us look like partisan hacks.”

  The Hill

I'm pretty sure you are partisan hacks, which would be the real reason you look like partisan hacks.

A staunch conservative who has opposed the bureau’s existence, Mulvaney was appointed by President Trump to be acting CFPB director in November following the resignation of Richard Cordray, the agency’s first chief.

The CFPB was created by the Dodd-Frank Act to police predatory lending and has been the focal point of heated partisan battles in Congress since it opened in 2013. Mulvaney pledged to rein in the CFPB after years of complaints from the GOP and financial sector that the agency had breached its mandate with overreaching rules and lawsuits.

The bureau was the brainchild of Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and has been fiercely defended by her party.

You surely can't be surprised there are leaks from agency employees whose head doesn't think it should exist.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

In the category: Of course they did

Some people call it streamlining government.

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Scott Pruitt last year oversaw a series of efforts to remove references and information regarding climate change from the agency's website, according to a report from The Associated Press.

Pruitt zeroed in on former President Obama's move to lower carbon emissions from coal-fired power plants, according to the report.

[...]


Data on climate change was removed and the search results for "Clean Power Plan" were removed from the website.

[...]

Since taking over as administrator in February, Pruitt has reshaped the EPA's agenda, with a heavy focus on rolling back initiatives from the Obama administration.

He has also moved to downsize the EPA.
  The Hill

The Centers for Disease is rolling back its epidemic prevention programs in 39 out of 49 countries due to a lack of funding, The Washington Post reported Friday.

Government officials told The Post that staffers abroad began receiving instructions about two weeks ago to start downsizing activities aimed at preventing epidemics.

Starting in October 2019, the CDC will only focus on 10 “priority countries”: India, Thailand, Vietnam, Jordan, Kenya, Uganda, Liberia, Nigeria, Senegal and Guatemala.

Countries that will see scaled-back efforts include Congo, Haiti, Rwanda and China, all nations that are considered hot spots for potential epidemics.

[...]

A coalition of health groups, representing more than 200 organizations and companies, called for Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar to reconsider cutting the funding in a letter Monday.

  The Hill

The acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has stripped an office devoted to lending discrimination of its enforcement power, according to an email released Thursday.

[...]

The decision enraged the CFPB’s progressive backers, who supported former Director Richard Cordray and his aggressive actions against lenders suspected of wrongdoing.

Cordray himself panned the “CFPB squatter leadership” for “interfering” with crucial bureau work.

“We took on tough cases about redlining and other violations,” Cordray tweeted. “Some don’t like it but it is the Law of the Land.”

Mulvaney and his staff insisted the restructuring is simply a matter of streamlining the CFPB while still cracking down on racial discrimination.

  The Hill

The Department of Justice (DOJ) has effectively shuttered an office established under former President Obama to increase the accessibility of legal aid to needy Americans, according to a new report.

People familiar with the matter told The New York Times that the Office for Access to Justice has seen its staff leave the office over the past few months and its acting director, Maha Jweied, step down from the department.

[...]

Attorney General Jeff Sessions can’t officially close the office without informing Congress, but can reallocate its resources to other divisions.

  The Hill

Yeah, that'll do the job.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

A big win!

I can't believe he didn't say "a big win for ME." It is definitely not a win for consumers.

You may remember [Trump's pick, Mick Mulvaney] from the time he told reporters that Meals on Wheels “doesn’t work.” Or his flailing attempts to redefine the word compassion to mean cutting programs that help the elderly. He is also, generally, not a fan of regulations or regulators, and especially not the CFPB. “I don’t like the fact that CFPB exists, I will be perfectly honest with you,” Mulvaney once said during a House committee hearing. He also co-sponsored a bill to eliminate the bureau.

[...]

Mulvaney’s appointment may only be temporary, but he will likely begin the process of substantially weakening the agency. The move is also, of course, very Trumpian—akin to putting oil shill Scott Pruitt in charge of the Environmental Protection Agency or tapping Rick Perry to lead the Department of Energy after he called for its demise. This is one more step in the destruction of the administrative state through appointments. The brazenness of it would make you laugh if you weren’t already crying.

  Slate

Mulvaney, a former Republican congressman who is already spearheading the Trump administration's efforts to roll back regulations across the federal government, now controls an agency whose decisions impact any American with a checking account, mortgage, credit card or consumer loan.

[...]

On his first day in the job — after crossing the street from his office in the White House complex bringing doughnuts to his colleagues — Mulvaney imposed a 30-day moratorium on new regulations, froze hiring and put a temporary hold on payments to victims of illegal banking practices.

"You should expect that this agency will stay open. Rumors that I'm going to set the place on fire or lock the doors or blow it up are completely false," Mulvaney said.

"That said," he continued, "anybody who thinks that a Trump administration CFPB would be the same as an Obama administration CFPB is simply being naïve. Elections have consequences at every agency, and it includes the CFPB."

  USA Today

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

UPDATE:  Okay, there it is.

Typical Trump choice

President Donald Trump’s  [...]  pick to temporarily head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau [Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney ] is [...] under consideration to become interim director of the federal government’s consumer watchdog.

[...]

Mulvaney is  [...]  poised to become [...] another in a string of appointees who have previously attacked the agencies they now head, including EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, who sued the agency as Oklahoma attorney general, and Energy Secretary Rick Perry, who previously proposed abolishing the department he now heads.

  Vox

The actual temporary head of the consumer protection agency, Leandra English, has filed a lawsuit challenging Trump's right to put Mulvaney in that position. I assume that even if she wins, Trump will nominate Mulvaney to be the permanent head. And it doesn't seem like Congress has any intention - or ability - to bar any of Trump's inappropriate agency heads. I haven't delved into this CFPB issue enough to know why he hasn't simply made that nomination already.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Still screwing the people

With a razor-thin margin, the Senate passed a resolution to nullify a signature regulation from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which banned forced arbitration provisions. Such clauses, tucked into the fine print of contracts that nobody reads, deny consumers the ability to contest claims through a class-action lawsuit, and can allow banks and other financial institutions to rip off their customers with virtual impunity.

[...]

[I]n July, in a rare instance of government using an outright ban instead of requiring disclosure or some other half-measure, CFPB finished a rule preventing arbitration agreements in financial contracts from stopping consumers who band together with other victims in a class-action lawsuit. But Republicans managed to twist the issue into one where corporations needed to be protected from greedy trial lawyers.

First, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency head Keith Noreika, himself a former defense lawyer for Wells Fargo who tried to push class-action suits into arbitration, argued the rule posed “safety and soundness” concerns for banks and would raise the cost of credit. Then this week, the Treasury Department, relying heavily on a discredited claim that plaintiff attorneys routinely shake down corporations with meritless claims, published a 17-page report attacking the CFPB rule.

  Intercept

Yes, the banksters are still running the show.  And it will ever be thus.

Both Sens. Corker and Flake, along with Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., joined in the effort to give Trump a major win, even if it will hurt many of his own voters. Consumer advocates had hoped that moderate Republicans Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine would block the GOP effort. They did not.

Only GOP Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and John Kennedy of Louisiana bucked their party.

[...]

[C]ontinuing reports of petty consumer fraud at Wells Fargo, and a data breach of over 140 million customer accounts at the credit reporting bureau Equifax, made it difficult for the Senate to proceed. Both Wells Fargo and Equifax have attempted to use arbitration clauses in their financial contracts to force victims out of class-action litigation.

[...]

The scandals put a human face on the practice of companies forcing customer disputes through a secret, non-judicial process. Days before the vote, Americans for Financial Reform addressed this directly in a video featuring a disabled woman and a veteran who were ripped off by Wells Fargo and then prevented from a day in court because of an arbitration clause.

[...]

As federal judge Richard Posner of the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals once wrote in a ruling, “The realistic alternative to a class action is not 17 million individual suits, but zero individual suits, as only a lunatic or a fanatic sues for $30.”

[...]

The vote was split 50-50, which required Vice President Mike Pence to break the tie.

And Wells Fargo (or any other) can multiply 17 million by $30 in a fraction of a second.

Plus...

An Economic Policy Institute report showed that consumers only win 9 percent of arbitration cases, and banks almost always win when they issue counter-claims, with the consumer paying $7,725 on average.

Spaulding should have such a racket.

President Trump is expected to sign the resolution.

You don't say.

But it's not just the GOP that's been gutting the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.  As you know, banksters and corporations are equal opportunity Congressional pocket liners.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.