Elizabeth Warren Out as Possible Head of Consumer Financial Protection Bureau « naked capitalism

Saturday, July 16, 2011

Elizabeth Warren Out as Possible Head of Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

We have said for some time Warren was not going to get head the new consumer financial protection agency. Obama was not willing to ruffle the banks, and Geithner, who is is most powerful Cabinet member, would not stand for it). Nevertheless, we are disappointed by this outcome. And it seems a bit churlish for this news to be leaked the day after she ran the gauntlet with the House Oversight Panel. From Bloomberg:

President Barack Obama has chosen a candidate other than Elizabeth Warren as director of the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, according to a person briefed on the matter.

The president’s choice is a person who already works at the consumer agency, the person said today. Obama may make the nomination as soon as next week, another person briefed on the administration’s plans said.

The choice is presumably Raj Date, a former McKinsey staffer and banking industry executive (Capital One and Deutsche Banka) whose name was floated a month ago.

But the Republicans nevertheless lost no opportunity to find opportunities to kick Warren. From FoxNews (hat tip reader Paul Tioxon). In a further sign of how petty and dysfunctional Washington has become, not only have the Republicans said they will approve no one for the CFPB post (and they’ve stymied the approval process for other important government posts) but they are denying pay to any recess appointees to key agencies.

The CFPB was not on the list, which seems curious given that Warren has been a focus of opposition, but given that the tone of the House Oversight Committee grilling of her yesterday was much more restrained than it was in May, perhaps they Republicans have concluded that they have won and too much zeal isn’t a plus (witness the backlash in his district against her chief tormenter, the Representative from Bank of America, Patrick McHenry):

The House on Friday approved an amendment to a 2012 energy and water spending bill that would cut off the salaries of recess appointees to several agencies…

The amendment prevents recess appointees at the Department of Energy, the Army Corps of Engineers and the Bureau of Land Management from getting paid. Landry suggested that if payments for recess appointees are suspended it would make the job less attractive to potential takers…

Obama has made 28 recess appointments during his presidency, but that is fewer than previous presidents. President Clinton made 139 recess appointments during his two terms while President George W. Bush made 171 in his first seven years

The article notes that this amendment has to go through a lot of hurdles to become law. But if it does, I assume that means anyone who’d be a recess appointment would have to be independently wealthy, which the Republicans no doubt assume means they’d be business friendly.

Regardless, this illustrates the Republicans see the Senate approval process as not merely providing advice and consent but as yet another opportunity to drive their political agenda. And while the tension between the Congress and the Executive was designed into the process, differences of degree can and in this case do amount to differences in kind.

.

80 Comments:

Mark P. says:

July 16, 2011 at 2:33 am

Eh. Obama never fails to disappoint.

gruntled says:

July 16, 2011 at 2:58 am

Of course he’s going to disappoint you and me. According to NYT, Obama has already raised over $46M for his 2012 campaign. Disappointing the banksters would be a sure way to stop that flood of money.
- Glenn Condell says:
  
  July 16, 2011 at 11:09 pm
  
  That might seem like a ‘flood’ to you and me, but it is a trickle to them, a piss in the ocean.
  
  Tho’ it is nice to see some trickle-down at last, eh?
Dan says:

July 16, 2011 at 9:55 am

It looks more like a horse race to see who can disappoint the most.
Stupendous Man - Defender of Liberty, Foe of Tyranny says:

July 16, 2011 at 1:57 pm

Of course. What else did you expect from just another wall street captured elected official?
justanobserver says:

July 16, 2011 at 6:34 pm

He never fails to disappoint and yet the majority of democrats think his efforts to “reform” SS and medicare, as well as medicaid, are just dandy.

No matter how you look at it, the people are going to lose in 2012.

attempter says:

July 16, 2011 at 3:03 am

How can the Congress prevent the Imperial President from paying anyone he wants? They couldn’t prevent the corrupt TSA scanner buy.

Hmm, I wonder why that might be….

(For those who need the answer spelled out, it’s because Obama will always side first with corporate extractors, and second with the Republicans. He’ll never side with anyone else. That explains these two seemingly contradictory outcomes.)

beowulf says:

July 16, 2011 at 3:14 am

They can’t cut salaries for CFPB employees since its funded by Federal Reserve so is not subject to congressional appropriations). It certainly will be interesting to see the repercussions of this move. Warren really has done a number on Obama and Geithner already, effortlessly making them both look craven and weak. It’d be hilarious if she DOESN’T resign her Assistant to the President job (remember she’s dual-hatted to Tsy and the WH). If she refused to resign (and why make things easy?), Obama would have to fire her to kick her out of government. Keep twisting the knife Elizabeth.

OT (sorta), my favorite batshit crazy conspiracy theory is the belief that there’ a secret word, that if uttered in the presence of one of our disguised Reptilian overlords (and no, adherents do not mean that metaphorically) will instantly reveal their true nature to the world.
“It is out there, this word we all seek. We do not know its language, nor its etymology, but we know it exists. It can be found. We have records from ancient times shouting its existence to those who can read the hidden codes, but no grapheme of the word itself, as must be the case, as the reptiles destroy any document or writing of the word lest it be let loose to reveal their true visage.”
http://halfpasthuman.com/theword.html

Hmm, wonder if they’ve tried uttering “Elizabeth Warren” yet. :o)

Yves Smith says:

July 16, 2011 at 8:28 am

Beowulf,

Should have teased out that point. They could have tried revoking the language in Dodd Frank re the pay as far as the director was concerned in the case of a recess appointment. There’s no reason they couldn’t have tried that.

Re her contract. I assume it’s time limited. I’ve never heard of an open-ended consulting contract. MIght even have language that it terminates on “the later of X date or the approval of a permanent director of the CFPB.”
- beowulf says:
  
  July 16, 2011 at 11:09 am
  
  “Elizabeth Warren, Assistant to the President and Special Advisor to the Secretary of the Treasury on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau”
  
  She’s not on a consulting contract, “Assistant to the President” is a term of art meaning she was hired by the Executive Office of the President. The time limit is whenever the president fires her or she resigns, which she would customarily do at the end of the current presidential term (but Mitt Romney could always ask her to stay).
  
  “Senior staff within the Executive Office of the President have the title Assistant to the President, second-level staff have the title Deputy Assistant to the President, and third-level staff have the title Special Assistant to the President.”
  http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2010/09/17/president-obama-names-elizabeth-warren-assistant-president-and-special-a
  - Yves Smith says:
    
    July 16, 2011 at 2:28 pm
    
    OK, I stand corrected. She has been depicted as an advisor (small A) and I have never seen her described as an Assistant to the President. People like Lee Sachs served as advisors to Treasury and my understanding is they were contracted as consultants, not employees. And Lee would go to meetings and act like he was on staff (I’ve had consulting assignments where I’ve done the same).
    
    She can be absent from Harvard only at most 2 years. She loses her tenure if she stays longer. I think that means she returns at the latest in November.
craazyman says:

July 16, 2011 at 11:01 am

You know I used to believe that reptilian stuff was all overblow imagination.

But now, seriously, I’m really on the fence about it, especially after studying shamanic vision states. It might well be entirely true at a certain level of being.

We might call it a form of demonic possession. This stuff is all over the Old Testament. And those folks weren’t necesarily dumb just because they lived in ancient times.

I do believe everyone is capable of seeing their true nature, and it requires a cleansing of perception through words. I’m not sure one word is enough, but getting the right combination of words. And a few good pictures helps too. Like a dictionary illustration. :) Some people though are beyond all hope and there is no word or combination of words that will do any good at all. It’s like a fever that has to run its course.

KFritz says:

July 16, 2011 at 3:42 am

Ms. Warren is in a better position than anyone to publicly eviscerate BHO. If she does it, she’ll do it w/ maximum class without betraying confidences or demeaning herself one iota. We can only hope.

F. Beard says:

July 16, 2011 at 5:39 am

Since the banks refuse to be regulated what say we eliminate ALL government privileges for them such as a lender of last resort and legal tender laws for private debts?

Z says:

July 16, 2011 at 5:46 am

I read this story earlier in the puffpo:

Elizabeth Warren: Government Hasn’t Sufficiently Probed Foreclosure Abuses‏

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/15/elizabeth-warren-foreclosure-investigation_n_899659.html

And then she gets laid off later today. Coincidence?

Z

psychohistorian says:

July 17, 2011 at 6:37 pm

I think that the reason that Ms Warren is not the head of the CFPB is that she is unwilling to be broken by those at the top. They would l;ve to have her in the top spot because it would give them cred but she won’t continue their game.

The flip side of that comment is the ongoing condemnation of Obama as fascist enabler in chief.

Cedric Regula says:

July 16, 2011 at 6:01 am

I guess we should step back and reflect that this life and death struggle is over an agency that might regulate the fine print in credit cards or consumer loans.

But a Capital One guy. Yes. Good choice.

BillF says:

July 16, 2011 at 6:35 am

Yes, at the end of the day, the position itself will have little consequence for the quotidian machinations of the empire. But, for me at least, this decision confirms a long held suspicion that it’s probably impossible for anyone not securely in the back pocket of corporate America to be appointed to important high public office. If a candidate with Professor Warren’s background and “street cred” can be so easily kicked to the gutter, the country will be much the poorer. I hope she will continue to speak out forthrightly on issues that concern her, but she could hardly be blamed for returning the the relative obscurity of the academy.
Jim A says:

July 16, 2011 at 10:14 am

Well yes, the chances of the CFPB actually having any real powers is pretty minimal. But it COULD have served a purpose as finger pointer and public shamer. And for that, EW was just about the perfect person to head it. Politcially fearless, smart, and amazingly capable under congressional cross examination.
- ScottW says:
  
  July 16, 2011 at 10:30 am
  
  This is yet another one of those “hard decisions” that Obama brags about as angering his base. The man is solely responsible for legitimizing the Bachman, Ryan, radical right ideology by engaging and negotiating with them, while completely emasculating the center and left of center political ideology. Discussions such as do you want my social security/medicare cuts, or Ryan’s cuts, will ruin this Country.
- Ransome says:
  
  July 17, 2011 at 4:49 am
  
  I was thinking that before the next credit bubble formed she would have had her megaphone out.
Glen says:

July 16, 2011 at 4:03 pm

Capital One!

Let the jokes about Wall St and TBTF Viking pillaging of the American public commence!

ex-PFC Chuck says:

July 16, 2011 at 7:17 am

If USA politics proceeds on its present track for the next 17 months, that is with BHO being renominated without meaningful opposition, he will probably be reelected. His Move-to-the-right-center strategy will probably work in the presidential race, given the likelihood even if the GOP nominates a relatively sane candidate (by no means a sure thing) that in order to get the nomination he or she will have to kowtow to the Tea Party loons to an extent that seriously compromises their chances in the general election.

However, 2012 will be another down-ticket disaster for the Democrats in Congressional and state races, so much so that the party and the nation may never recover. This is because Obama has gutted the ability of that party to develop a meaningful “master narrative,” to use Drew Westen’s term. (See The Political Brain: The Role of Emotion in Deciding the Fate of the Nation http://amzn.to/nR6rrF) In spite of the fact that Republican policies and intransigence in federal and state offices has given the party plenty of issue fodder, the down-ticket candidates will be unable to capitalize on them because the ground beneath them was cut away by Obama.

The only way the Democratic Party can avoid this disastrous scenario is to find a candidate who can pose a serious challenge to Obama’s renomination by framing his/her campaign as a fight for the soul of the Democratic Party, and by extension the preservation of the future of de facto democracy in the United States of America. Elizabeth Warren is by far the person in the best position to be this candidate.

liberal says:

July 16, 2011 at 12:27 pm

…he will probably be reelected…

Not so clear. Political science empirical lit says if unemployment doesn’t improve seriously in the months before the election, he’s going to have a very hard slog.

mitchw says:

July 16, 2011 at 7:37 am

Meet your new Senator, Massachusetts

Foppe says:

July 16, 2011 at 8:06 am

Given that she is sort of familiar with how the senate works, why on earth would she want to bother?
- ambrit says:
  
  July 16, 2011 at 10:03 am
  
  Dear Foppe;
  I must agree. She can do a lot more good sniping from the sidelines, say, as the head of a consumer advocacy non-profit. Another thing to consider is the state of her own private life. She does ‘have a life’ after all. After what she’s been through lately, she deserves a quiet vacation. Once the dust from 2012 settles, she can contemplate her next move.
  - Valissa says:
    
    July 16, 2011 at 2:01 pm
    
    I really think the senate would be a waste of her potential. Also, given the Senate seniority system and the fact that first term senators are essentailly backbenched and discouraged from seeking any limelight, that’s a long time to be restricted (look what happened to Jim Webb and all his great attempts at prison reform). She could be more effective in so many others ways. A consumer advocacy non-profit is a great idead, or even better, a consumer financial information non-profit oriented towards educating average people about money, finance and economics.
bkny says:

July 16, 2011 at 11:06 am

is this senate run confirmed? i thought she’d discounted it as not a good fit for her. i’m taking shit at another site for, lawdy, displaying profound disappointment in obama’s shitcanning her … what am i, stupid, for thinking he had any leverage at all to appoint her? actually, yeah, i do … or did; but he’s squandered it.
Yves Smith says:

July 16, 2011 at 2:33 pm

I don’t see why she’d have any interest in being a Senator.

First, she has to make nice to 44 assholes who’ve basically said they hate her and her agenda. Hillary had to bring the men coffee (!) and otherwise suck up to be accepted. That’s not something that I can see Warren wanting to do.

Second, the Dems have an explicit pay to play system, Even if she can get elected (remember, no big corp backers will give her a dime) she won’t be able to raise the money needed to kick enough over to the DCCC to get on any interesting committees. She’ll be a useless ornament. Her role would solely to be to provide another Dem vote on closely contested matters.

Third, she has no particular loyalty to the party. And why should she? Look how well it has treated her.
- Jackrabbit says:
  
  July 16, 2011 at 5:29 pm
  
  Wasn’t she a Republican? I’m not sure if she still is, but her approach to regulating is that the industry benefits from informed consumers. It seems to me that that point of view fairly neutral and a position that both traditional conservatives and progressives can agree on.
  
  Her real “threat” may be in her ability to transcend party politics and unite the principled of both parties against the monied interests.

rd says:

July 16, 2011 at 8:39 am

I assume this means that Obama and Geithner are officially making war on the middle class (we need something to replace the GWOT after all). Up until now, they have made it largely black Special Ops operations, but this appears to make it official that they are going with the regular troops in te open now.

The Republicans had already offically declared war on the middle class with their full-frontal assaults on Social Security.

I don’t think the next few years are going to end well for anybody…..

Johnny Clamboat says:

July 16, 2011 at 11:49 am

Considering the Central State’s litany of failures on declared wars (drugs, poverty, terror, etc.), I welcome this war on the middle class. It can only result in a more robust class.

Bob of Newton says:

July 16, 2011 at 9:02 am

Obama is the leader of the moderate wing of the Republican Party.

ambrit says:

July 16, 2011 at 10:05 am

Dear Bob;
You mean the Log Cabin Republicans? Now that’s a smear I can get behind!
- rafael bolero says:
  
  July 16, 2011 at 3:28 pm
  
  That would be, the Uncle Tom’s Log Cabin branch, perhaps. I think the corporate strategy will be the same this next time, except Obama will not need the rhetoric or the lower-income base : just run someone–Bachman, good example–so nuts, even at VP, that sane dems who do show up to vote will have to vote Obama again, like last time; the alternative, that something like Romney/Bachman wins, just means they win in the other way–so it is win-win for Wall Street. Someone like Warren–Feingold?–could try to primary Obama, by tapping into the outraged progressive base internet-funding that Obama fooled. But, this is another sad day, in the many since he secretly dealt away Rx drug pricing before “health care reform” even began. This is like strike seven or eight in his turn at bat, the pitcher for the first two being a Tee-Ball stand….
  - ambrit says:
    
    July 16, 2011 at 11:07 pm
    
    Mr bolero;
    What I want to know is, where’s Howard Dean hiding nowadays.
NotTimothyGeithner says:

July 16, 2011 at 11:54 am

Don’t throw a brick through the Overton Window, please. The “moderate” Republicans in the U.S. Senate voted against the Bush tax cuts in 2003 before they were abject failures. Obama is the champion of the GOP in the 90′s.

8 Most Evil Banks says:

July 16, 2011 at 9:55 am

Glinda, the good Witch of the North, can now get sponsorship
and rent a fleet of buses, plaster her face on the side, and with bold colored lettering declare: “Wake the fuck up, you’ve been had!”

ambrit says:

July 16, 2011 at 10:09 am

Dear EMEB;
From what I’ve read about Billie Burke, (who played the part in the movie “The Wizard of Oz,”) she would have loved to play that role. She would have also asked Dorothy; “Are you a good Banker, or a bad Banker?”

Percy says:

July 16, 2011 at 10:23 am

It is good to have Warren out there sniping at things in smart ways. She’s articulate,persuasive, not deflectable, and appealing in a sort of an anti-Palin way. I hope she keeps at it, something she surely could continue to do as a Senator. Sorry she’s not getting rulemaking power at the CFPB, though.

chunga says:

July 16, 2011 at 10:51 am

I could just throw up.

Remember Sunny Sheu?

Sunny Sheu: Murdered for Investigating NY Foreclosure Judge Joseph Golia?

The author of the original investigative piece in the Black Star News , Will Galison, will be on the Power Hour Radio Show live on Monday, July 18 (7-10 CST).

The Power Hour has a very large international audience. It will be broadcast on many regional stations, short-wave, and live-streamed.

It will also be archived and re-broadcast later in the day.

More details on The Hamlet at the link below:

The Sunny Sheu story w/ Will Galison on The Power Hour Monday 7/18…

Does anyone care anymore?

The Reality Detached American

I have my doubts.

And no, I don’t work for The Power Hour program…

issacread says:

July 16, 2011 at 10:58 am

Is there not a little monkey see monkey do here? Didn’t we toss checks and balances in 1980 in favor of the red carpet of world renown. We wanted respect and honor. Now we’re stuck with puppet ceasars competing for their droit de seigneur. Obama has set the pace if you ask me; big picture-wise. He does us while they do him. Bring on the Word.

required says:

July 16, 2011 at 11:03 am

i can’t say this enough: $ave the Rich: Vote D or R!!

readerOfTeaLeaves says:

July 16, 2011 at 11:28 am

Well, the Masterstroke seems like it would go as follows:
1. Appoint Dat to CFPB
2. Wait for Timmeh G to toddle off from the Treasury spot he so dearly loves, thereby creating an opening at Treasury
3. Appoint Elizabeth Warren to Treasury
4. Pop champagne corks and collapse in hysterics at the miraculous paradoxes of life

After this comment, I’m probably viewed around NC as ‘certifiably nuts’.

I think the odds are .000000001%
But that simply means that if such a miracle ever presented itself, it would be a political masterstroke.

After all, if David Vinier could describe the events of Sept 2008 as ‘two standard deviation points (from ‘normal’)’ then truly there are multiple universes in which *anything* is possible ;-)

Give the EU banks and the US economic continue to spiral downward. BHO will need credibility, and Warren is one of the very few credible names remaining in US public life.

To add to the souring picture going forward, it now appears that the Bush-appointed Peter Wallison used his position on the FCIC to work in cahoots with the House GOP to repeal Dodd-Frank. We have not seen this play out yet. But this seems to hold the **potential** for the House GOP to be further defrocked, and their harassment of Warren could leave her as BHO’s most credible nominee for Treasury as the economy continues to devolve.

Again, I don’t that a Warren appointment to Treasury will ever happen.
But then again, two weeks ago I did not imagine that Murdock’s empire could begin to implode within 14 days…

I will now go put on a dunce cap and sit quietly in the corner…

BondsOfSteel says:

July 16, 2011 at 12:46 pm

I think the odds are much higher that the next treasury secretary will have worked for Goldman or Chase.

If these are the choices Obama makes on his first term… I have less faith about his second.
- readerOfTeaLeaves says:
  
  July 16, 2011 at 1:35 pm
  
  You may well be right.
  I may be in fantasy land.
  
  But a Goldman alumni would be political poison.
  And Warren would be a political masterstroke.
  
  I think odds of Warren ever getting Treasury are completely remote. But for that same reason, **if** it ever happened, it would be the more politically powerful move, IMVHO.
  
  Politically powerful because so unlikely.
  - psychohistorian says:
    
    July 17, 2011 at 6:41 pm
    
    I want me some of that hopium you are smokin. Mine just doesn’t get me there anymore.

ECON says:

July 16, 2011 at 11:37 am

Each day observers from afar (and not) see the TOTAL dysfunction of governance that the contradictions are so swollen with venomous poison that banana republic does not fit
the polity. Nation states fall apart from within to maintain the contradictions that sap the strength and legitimacy of the governors. Irony abounds…the USA spends and allocates millions of workers to the security state (homeland security)
while the governors of the republic would be classified as a security threat in less acrimonious times.

CS Thompson says:

July 16, 2011 at 11:51 am

I agree with ex-PFC Chuck. If we truly want government of, by, & for the people, then I see few options better than to draft Elizabeth Warren for President.

At a minimum, the empty suits would have to triangulate in her direction.

(And the likelihood that she would be personally horrified by the idea is yet another point in her favor.)

Glenn Condell says:

July 16, 2011 at 11:23 pm

EW for President playing good cop, with Bill Black as bad cop VP, with his shirtsleeves rolled up, a rolling pin in his hand and a gleam in his eye.

lambert strether says:

July 16, 2011 at 12:22 pm

The beauty part, for an old skool polibloggers here, is that the White House threw Warren under the bus late in the afternoon on a Friday. The Bush administration did exactly the same thing. In fact, I used to hang around the news wires at that time, so I could post on whatever they did.

Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose ….

Hugh says:

July 16, 2011 at 12:28 pm

This was so eminently predictable and predicted. It’s pure Obama. He made Warren the issue. Would he, wouldn’t he, appoint her? We had the standard set of suggestions that were at once commonsensical and totally unrealistic. If he wanted to, he could recess appoint her. A case of the false premise. He never wanted her under any conditions. If he had wanted her, he would have fought for her, which, of course, he did not, and never had any intention of doing. And that’s important because Warren was no radical. She was solidly Establishment and, at best, only moderately progressive. But still the possibility of her nomination was fine to have out there from Obama’s point of view because it wasted time and energy and kept the attention on Warren and not his failure to push for meaningful financial reform, his blank refusal to hold the banksters accountable, and general embrace of the kleptocrats of Wall Street.

The Warren nomination was a great decoy because it kept his image, not as a reformer, but as a possible reformer in play with his base. Going into the August recess with Americans focused less on news and more on summer, it is the perfect time, not just to propose slashing Social Security and Medicare but to dump Warren. She has served her purpose. The Democratic base and progressives now have much less time and far fewer options to create a real opposition, and alternative, to him. Warren was certainly not the whole of this plan but she was a useful part of it.

And too Obama looks to have effectively neutralized her. If she had left earlier on her own, she could have become a focus of protest to Obama. But Obama dragged out the process so long that we could say much the same of Warren that we said of Obama. If she was going to oppose him, she would already have done it by now. And of course because it is Obama who is pushing her out, if she raises any protest to him now, she can be dismissed and derided as “disgruntled”.

All in all this has worked out very well for the kleptocrat in chief.

attempter says:

July 16, 2011 at 4:25 pm

But Obama dragged out the process so long that we could say much the same of Warren that we said of Obama. If she was going to oppose him, she would already have done it by now.

Yes, even those who have rejected Obama don’t want to hear about Warren’s own complicity in the scam, but it’s been evident from the start. She couldn’t possibly ever have been ignorant of her intended role.

No matter what happens, no matter how much evidence piles up, people remain as children, desperate to find “better elites”.
- psychohistorian says:
  
  July 17, 2011 at 6:48 pm
  
  I don’t think she was ever part of the problem but just tilting at windmills like the rest of us….but a hell of a lot more competent to do so. Many well intentioned folk are trying to effect change in our current system of governance and they are not the problem but have to get next to the problem to try and make change…unless we are going to have a revolution.
  
  Lets throw rocks at the inherited rich that control our social meme, shall we.

kievite says:

July 16, 2011 at 1:18 pm

From this debate it’s clear that Warren became kind of idea of justice for banksters, a symbol of a particular political myth. Now this symbol is gone and no wonder that many people feel bitter :-).

Nobody left in the administration to project particular aspirations.

and i says:

July 16, 2011 at 1:37 pm

If she ran, she would win.

Glenn Condell says:

July 16, 2011 at 11:28 pm

Assuming she lived that long.
- and i says:
  
  July 17, 2011 at 12:45 am
  
  Good point. I don’t think they can assassinate such a nice lady, though. Martyr and all.

McGee says:

July 16, 2011 at 2:53 pm

Elizabeth Warren walked into the pig’s trough hoping to clean it up. An impossible task without moving the pigs out. I hope she was able to do something positive that she can point to when she returns to Academia and say,” this was worth the effort.”

She justly deserves our thanks for making the effort. She has my respect and was the exception to the rule that the elite are all corrupt.

KFrita says:

July 16, 2011 at 3:02 pm

Hear, hear! Well said.
kievite says:

July 16, 2011 at 4:36 pm

She has my respect and was the exception to the rule that the elite are all corrupt.

In spite of the fact that the primary goal of every elite is to maintain its own power and privilege, there are limits within which it can ignore the interests of non-elite. People like Warren serve a useful function of articulating those limits. So in no way she is an exception.

I think elite always have people who behave this way, “Rabble Rousers”, so to speak. Another example is Gore Vidal (who called Reagan “triumph of the embalmer’s art.”) Of course they are a pretty rare breed.

The fact that she allowed to pursue her goals might also be related to the fact that a some section of the elite lost confidence in themselves or the legitemacy of thier own rule. I think that Bush II was considered to be a joke by a very large part of the US elite. Gore Vidal has described George W. Bush as “the stupidest man in the United States”.[
- Valissa says:
  
  July 16, 2011 at 5:30 pm
  
  “People like Warren serve a useful function of articulating those limits.”
  
  I like the way you stated that! Warren is competent, capable and smart… and she still cares about the little people. Some elites do, and they are worth supporting to a point. Too bad more elites don’t have her sense of conscience. But in the end, she is still one of the elites. I don’t think it serves any useful purpose to look for saviors or heroes among the elites, or anywhere else for that matter.

Schofield says:

July 16, 2011 at 4:32 pm

Is Obama related to a Mr R. Murdoch ?

run75441 says:

July 16, 2011 at 5:21 pm

Not many have been able to go up against the Summers/Geithner cabal.

Brooksley Born, the ‘cassandra of the derivatives crisis’, tried it as head of the Commodity Futures and Trading Commission and met with stiff resistance from Greenspan, Levitt, Rubin, and Summers. Summers testified in Congress claiming Brooksleys’s actions were throttling a thriving market. And if Greenspan and Summers had listened to Born, would we have gone through the worst crash since The Great Depression?

Iris Mack as a quantitative analyst for the Harvard Management Corporation expressed concern in an email to then Harvard President Summers chief of staf of HMCs heavy investment in derivative securities. She is later fired from her position by the chief of staff for “baseless accusations.” HMC goes on to lose $billions.

Dr. Elizabeth Warren who has foretold the comming collapse of the middle class, has warned of the TBTF financial corpocracy, and has made claims the government has not sufficiently investigated the financial crisis main street has had to pay for in lost jobs, decreased revenue, and soon with reductions in SS, Medicare, and Medicaid to offset the issues Wall Street created. She will be set aside because Geithner, a Summers protege and former associate, does not like her?

Instead, we get a Capital One Executive whose company has made a practice of preying on higher risk citizens with high interest credit cards. Will he be wearing the Viking armor when he takes office? There is certainly something wrong with this scenario and it appears to focus on gender.

Psychoanalystus says:

July 16, 2011 at 5:55 pm

So, what’s the problem? We need to get that bubble thing going again, and Warren would clearly stand in the way. I’m thinking, with all the available foreclosed housing out there, another round of subprimes might clear the inventory rather nicely, and get another round of American-style prosperity going for at least 2 years (or, until after 2112). Come to think of it, I could use a subprime or two myself here — a beach house in Malibu would look good on me, I’m thinking.

I say this Raj guy’s the perfect choice. Go Raj!

Psychoanalystus.

Lyle says:

July 16, 2011 at 6:29 pm

Yes have the nonprofit run adds equating anyone in financial services to a used car salesperson (I think its possible that financial services folks may have even lower ethics). But given the reputation of used car salesmen its a good start that all understand. Then add if you can’t understand it don’t sign. Ask who stands to make money on the deal. Just say no to unsolicited sales efforts (a lot of folks in the midwest would still have homes since they re-fied nearly paid off homes). Be afraid and paranoid about matters financial. That would make a good add series, it would be interesting to see how many stations would dare to carry them, for fear of their masters.

Pinto says:

July 16, 2011 at 8:47 pm

Funny Obama’s picking a Capital One banker to head a consumer protection agency. Capital One stands apart in its despicable behavior.

The fact he picked an individual associated with a noteworthy criminal enterprise seals the deal on my opinion of him.

Obama = 100% banker tool

Why even bother with elections anymore?

Paul Tioxon says:

July 16, 2011 at 10:28 pm

Because if you do not bother with elections anymore, they will take that away as well, with all that such a political move implies.
- Hugh says:
  
  July 16, 2011 at 11:52 pm
  
  “If voting changed anything, they’d make it illegal” –Emma Goldman.
  - and i says:
    
    July 17, 2011 at 12:47 am
    
    I’m going to pee in there this time.
    - Psychoanalystus says:
      
      July 17, 2011 at 2:42 am
      
      Thanks for letting us know. Next time I’m early voting, just in case…
    - psychohistorian says:
      
      July 17, 2011 at 6:51 pm
      
      Thank goodness Oregon has vote by mail.
  - Paul Tioxon says:
    
    July 17, 2011 at 7:15 pm
    
    Voter suppression, its the kinder, gentler form of illegal.
- attempter says:
  
  July 17, 2011 at 3:18 am
  
  Good! Throwing off the mask of fake democracy. Maybe that would finally penetrate some thick skulls.
- hermanas says:
  
  July 17, 2011 at 2:46 pm
  
  elections= bogus selections, why can’t we get real selections(choices)?
  - Paul Tioxon says:
    
    July 17, 2011 at 7:10 pm
    
    You have had choices, Ralph Nader, Gus Hall, Angela Davis, Herb Lewin, what, you forgot to vote when they ran? Or maybe you are too intelligent to fall for the kabuki hall of mirrors and plastic ersatz illusion of Amerika? Or maybe you are just sick and tired of being sick and tired. Suck it up and act like real men and women, if that is possible, you know, with the complete lack of role models in the desolation of America, where O where do we turn for the authentic, the virtuous, sane blood stain free hands? Must be hard being defeated, lost, in despair. Let me know how that hopelessness and iron curtain of oppression thing is working out for you all.
    - hermanas says:
      
      July 17, 2011 at 8:11 pm
      
      My yr. 2000 vote for Nader has caused me much soul searching.
      I think it was John Lennon who said, “Love is a concept by which we measure pain.”
      I think of Ms. Warren’s experience as a concept by which we can measure corruption in our system.

Jackrabbit says:

July 17, 2011 at 3:48 pm

Former Ohio Attorney General Picked to Lead Consumer Agency

Mr. Cordray [52] came to national attention for his aggressive investigations of mortgage foreclosure practices while he was attorney general. . . . [he] joined the consumer bureau in December after narrowly losing a re-election bid for Ohio attorney general . . . After more than a decade in private practice and local political office, Mr. Cordray won a special election in 2008 to become Ohio’s attorney general and soon started a series of high-profile investigations of financial companies. . . The settlements he won totaled more than $2 billion.

Republicans made clear on Sunday that they were no more likely to confirm Mr. Cordray than Ms. Warren. Forty-four Republican senators have signed a letter saying they would refuse to vote on any nominee to lead the bureau, demanding instead that Democrats agree to overhaul the agency’s management structure to replace a single leader with a board of directors.

Warren endorsed him, saying: “Rich has always had my strong support because he is tough and he is smart — and that’s exactly the combination this new agency needs,” she said in a statement on Sunday. “His work and commitment have made it clear that he will make a stellar director.”

Bob Treacy says:

July 17, 2011 at 10:03 pm

Elizabeth – come back to MA and run for Senate!

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