Bloomberg (the news outlet, not the mayor) is calling for Bob Rubin to give the Democrats a “reality check.” What are the Krazy Dems up to that requires a family intervention? It seems that Charlie Rangel and John Edwards are talking about raising the capital gains tax rate. Pass the smelling salts.
The other evidence of Dems Gone Wild is my proposal in Democracy: A Journal of Ideas for a Financial Product Safety Commission. The idea is that consumers should have a Commission to put in place some national safety standards on home mortgages, credit cards and other financial products. I have argued that we need one federal agency with expertise on financial products whose primary mission is consumer protection instead of protection of bank profits. The person who takes out a $120,000 mortgage or $12,000 in debt on a credit card should have at least as much basic safety protection as the buyer of a $12 toaster. At least one presidential candidate, John Edwards, agrees.
Bloomberg characterizes a Financial Product Safety Commission as the same as Robert Reich’s call to spend “billions on labor and education.” Just in case anyone missed the point, the discussion of a FPSC is under the heading “Nanny State.”
Regardless of the pros and cons of Reich’s proposals back in the 90s and whether we ought to spend more of our tax dollars on education and labor, the analogy amazes me. Has there become such identity between our federal government and abusive business practices that any attempt to rein in business is the same as spending tax dollars? The Bloomberg piece seems to say that telling mortgage companies that they can’t slip in exploding ARMs and huge prepayment penalties without making it clear to the homeowner what’s going on is the same as spending billions of tax dollars. And suggesting that double-cycle billing or universal default should be regulated is just another form of wild government spending.
Sure, a commission costs some money — but peanuts compared to the billions drained out of the pocket of middle class families on trumped up credit card fees and penalty rates of interest, deceptive mortgages, and the like.
Maybe this is just another game of shouting “boogeyman,” and I shouldn’t respond. But someone needs to point out that regulating an industry to protect citizens is not the same as spending tax dollars.
Dems Gone Wild? How about Defenders of Industry Gone Wild?
