Category Archives: Commentary

Blog: Vacated MoneyGram Case Will Hurt the World’s Most Vulnerable Populations

This week, the Trump administration withdrew a 2022 Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) lawsuit against MoneyGram for its persistent failure to comply with consumer protection laws by failing to promptly deliver transfers, resolve disputes, and implement policies to comply with the law. The Trump CFPB’s refusal to hold MoneyGram accountable for its repeated and ongoing unlawful behavior is part of a pattern of willfully ignoring lawbreaking and letting financial scofflaws off the hook. 

by

Blog: Wall Street Payouts Threaten Our Health — Here’s How 

Healthcare has become a nightmare: rising costs, denied care, and mounting patient debt, all while Wall Street rakes in massive profits. On February 24, 2025, Americans for Financial Reform Education Fund (AFREF) and the Health and Political Economy Project (HPEP) hosted a webinar featuring physician and researcher Dr. Victor Roy, economist Lenore Palladino, and longtime physician and healthcare policy expert Dr. Donald Berwick.

by

Blog: On Community Development, Bank Regulators Are Stuck in 1995

Banking has changed a lot since 1977, but CRA regulations have not been meaningfully updated in three decades. In 2023, the banking regulators modernized the old brick and mortar banking rules for the modern era and strengthened CRA performance evaluations. Under new Trump-appointed leadership, regulators are now inexplicably walking away from these improvements.

by

Blog: #HandsOff Means #HandsOffCFPB Too

The #HandsOff demonstrations on April 5 included many different people, organizations, and causes, all united in an effort to stop the Trump administration’s destruction of the federal government and American democracy. Americans for Financial Reform was among the groups that supported the effort, with a particular focus on one subject: “Hands Off Our CFPB.”

by
Stop SB21

Blog: Tech Oligarchs Overhaul Delaware Corporate Law in Bid to Consolidate Power Over Us

While Elon Musk attacks federal agencies’ ability to protect us from the worst excesses of corporate power, a little known Musk initiative sailed through the Delaware legislature this week. Delaware’s corporate law drew Musk’s ire when its well-regarded Court of Chancery sided with Tesla shareholders and tossed out his $56 billion pay package.

by

Blog: Republicans Take Aim at Families Struggling with Medical Debt

This week, Republicans in Congress introduced a resolution to undo a Consumer Financial Protection (CFPB) rule that prevents medical debt from capsizing people’s credit scores. More than 100 million people have medical debt and it shows up on the credit reports of 15 million people.

by

Blog: The Weird, the Bad, and the Ugly behind Un-stablecoins

 The crypto industry’s Republican allies have introduced retrograde legislation to normalize the crypto assets known as stablecoins. This comforting moniker for a particular class of crypto assets is largely a public relations ploy that obscures their inherent risks. They really should be called un-stablecoins. However, they are a critical component of the crypto industry’s digital casino. And the crypto industry expects a huge return on its $130 million electoral spending spree. As such, passing this legislation would anoint stablecoins with federal imprimatur, exposing more crypto investors and the entire economy to more risk and instability.

by
Cryptocurrency

Blog: The Crypto Debanking Lie Distracts From Crypto’s Defrauded Customers

This month, Congress has held hearings discussing so-called debanking of crypto firms and a purported golden age of digital assets. The congressional Republicans are doing this to cozy up to the wealthy venture capital and crypto industry donors who claim — without substantive evidence — that regulators pushed banks to deny crypto firms access to banking services because of politics.

by

Blog: What Will Elon Musk and His Tech Bros Do With Your Personal Data?

Last week, newly confirmed Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent granted billionaire Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) team access to all of the federal government payments data. Musk’s team of tech bros are currently upending and disrupting the entire federal government without clear statutory authority or congressional approval.

by