Bankers Financial Protection Bureau

Yesterday Mick Mulvaney, acting head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, told banking industry executives they should make sure they force Congress to stick the agenda of big banks.  Mulvaney said that, as a congressman, he would meet only with lobbyists if they had contributed to his campaign.

“We had a hierarchy in my office in Congress,” Mr. Mulvaney, a former Republican lawmaker from South Carolina, told 1,300 bankers and lending industry officials at an American Bankers Association conference in Washington. “If you’re a lobbyist who never gave us money, I didn’t talk to you. If you’re a lobbyist who gave us money, I might talk to you.”

The CFPB, created by the Dodd-Frank Act after the 2008 financial crash, serves to police predatory behavior from banks, lenders, student loan services, auto dealers, credit card companies, and other financial institutions. Since then, it has recovered about $11.8 billion for consumers.

Since taking over the CFCP Mulvaney has stopped all enforcement actions and taken steps to help the payday-loan industry.  He is also advancing a plan to make it harder for American consumers to file complaints against financial institutions suspected of abuses.  Under Mulvaney the CFCP has not taken a single enforcement action against any banks, credit card companies, debt collectors, or finance companies, in contrast during the Obama administration, when it was issuing on average two to four actions a month. 

 

Who's watching out for you?  

Certainly not the Consumer Bankers Financial Protection Bureau

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T.D Mischke. Sorely Missed.

Speaking of radio personalities…

On Saturday I commented on listening to Art Bell as I drove nights on business travel.  It was not only a way to pass time on endless stretches of highway, but a way to stay awake.

My all time favorite night time show was T.D. (Tommy) Mischke on KSTP out of Minneapolis.  He called his broadcast “the black sheep network.”

Mischke was a talented mix of irreverence, spontaneity, comedy and serious interviews. 

He was on KSTP for 17 years, until he was abruptly fired on December 5, 2008 for making a phone call on the air without first getting the recipient’s permission.  

According to station sources, a memo regarding a very particular FCC rule was circulated to several on-air personalities shortly before Mischke's firing. The memo cited FCC rule 73.1206, which indicates that for any telephone call recorded for broadcast made live on-air, "prior notification must be given to the other party.”

Many saw the firing of Mischke as a ruse, since he had made numerous phone calls as part of his show.  Likely, KSTP was getting complaints about Mischke’s edgy style and buckled.  

Following that he did a two year show on WCCO radio until he decided he had reached his personal limit on radio. He is now doing a podcast and, I for one, sorely miss his radio days.  Thank goodness some of his broadcasts have been saved.

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RIP Art

Radio host Art Bell, whose nationally syndicated paranormal, supernatural and conspiracy themed show Coast to Coast AM kept many awake at night – for good reasons and bad – died at his Pahrump, Nevada home on Friday the 13th. Bell was 72.

He was an American Broadcaster and author and the original host of the paranormal-themed show “Coast to Coast AM,” which was broadcasted on hundreds of radio station in U.S. and Canada.

Back when I travelled seven states for my job I recall listening to Art Bell at night as I was driving miles to make it to another destination.  He had a distinctive radio voice and style, dealing with topics of the supernatural, outer space, life on other planets and UFO's.  Granted, some of it was a bit far-fetched, however was always interesting.

Rest in peace Art, whatever planet you have arrived on.

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Speaking of UFO's...  February 24, 2018 over Arizona:

In A Fool's Paradise

Winston Churchill warned of being deceived by their leaders, or worse, being ignorant enough to be duped.

“There is no worse mistake in public leadership than to hold out false hopes soon to be swept away.   The . . . people can face peril or misfortune with fortitude and buoyancy, but they bitterly resent being deceived or finding that those responsible for their affairs are themselves dwelling in a fool’s paradise.”

How apropos now that not-my-president Trump is sending the national guard to the border with Mexico, claiming that Mexicans are pouring over the border.

  

The facts simply do not bear out not-my-president Trump’s claims.

Fact:

Illegal border crossing arrests are at a 46 year low.

Fact:

Illegal border crossings have steadily declined since 2000.

Fact:

More non-Mexicans are illegally crossing our borders than Mexicans

Fact:

Mexico will NOT pay for a wall.  U.S. taxpayers will.

Anyone who doesn’t see this as a ploy by not-my-president Trump to appeal to his base are, in the words of Churchill, “dwelling in a fool’s paradise.”

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