The report issued by House Speaker Paul Ryan’s office today claims to lay out “A Better Way to Grow the Economy.” In fact, it repackages a dizzying array of items from Wall Street’s wish list, and relabels them as economic “reform.” By doing so, the House majority inexplicably lays the blame for a struggling economy on the regulations meant to keep big banks from creating future financial crises. Speaker Ryan’s plan would roll back consumer protections affecting everything from subprime mortgages to payday loans, empower Wall Street lawyers to overturn financial regulatory rules in dozens of new ways, and eliminate post-crisis regulatory powers to control risks at the giant “too big to fail” institutions that dominate Wall Street.
There’s a pattern here. From the Ryan report to House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling’s plan to gut Dodd-Frank, the House Majority seems to view every economic problem as an excuse for doing more favors for Wall Street and predatory lenders, and rolling back consumer protection and financial reform.