“Next time you’re on a rant about official Washington’s indifference to the interests of everyday citizens, take heart that some politicians are serious about going after the bad guys,” Susan Antilla writes (The Street, 2/13/14). “The House Committee on Financial Services took its investigation of ‘an unaccountable new government bureaucracy’” – the CFPB – “straight to the people on Jan. 27, devoting a new section of its Web site to gathering dirt on a bogeyman that’s menacing borrowers and homebuyers… In other words, the committee that operates under Texas Republican Jeb Hensarling is on a mission to protect you from an agency that’s actually protecting you…

“Americans for Financial Reform commissioned a poll last summer to see what the public’s impression was of the agency. Forty-nine percent strongly favored the CFPB, 31% ‘somewhat favored’ it and only 13% said they opposed having an agency for consumers.

“’Eventually, the legislators who have acted this way are going to realize how wildly out of touch they are with their own constituents,” said [AFR’s Jim] Lardner. “They’re running the risk of being seen as pawns of Wall Street and slippery lenders.’”