“Mulvaney dismantling the Office for Students is a move that deliberately makes life harder for America’s 44 million student loan borrowers. At a time when student borrowers need allies in government more than ever, Mick Mulvaney and the Trump Administration have left them out in the cold.”
AFR released the policy brief linked below concerning the role of private equity in the Toys R’ Us bankruptcy and the importance of taking action to limit private equity predation on the businesses they own. The Toys R’ Us Bankruptcy And Private Equity Predation.
“What Mulvaney is really interested in is not serious research, but information that advances the interests of the Wall Street banks and predatory lenders he serves.”
“America is facing an ongoing student debt crisis, with outstanding student debt surpassing $1.5 trillion and over 8 million borrowers in default on their student loans. Closing the Office for Students is like shuttering the fire department in the middle of a three-alarm fire,” said Alexis Goldstein, senior policy analyst at Americans for Financial Reform.
“‘“Companies will put millions of people into more expensive car loans simply because of the color of their skin,, said Rion Dennis, an advocate of financial overhaul at Americans for Financial Reform. ‘By using the Congressional Review Act to wipe out straightforward regulatory guidance, the congressional majority has also opened the door to challenging longstanding efforts to protect workers, consumers, civil rights, the environment and the economy.’”
In the era of mass incarceration, racial profiling and unaccountable police brutality, every member of Congress who voted for this bill has to explain why they do not believe people of color deserve the full protection of the federal government, especially given the long documented history of racial discrimination in auto lending.
Wall Street pumped $719 million into the political process in 2017, a rate that puts it on pace to outstrip the record $2 billion it spent during the 2015-2016 campaign cycle, according to a new report by Americans for Financial Reform.
In the first twelve months of the 2017-18 election cycle, Wall Street banks and financial interests have reported spending $719 million to influence decision-making through campaign contributions and lobbying. That total works out to about $2.0 million a day. The financial sector is by far the largest source of campaign contributions in federal elections, and the third largest spender on lobbying
Making the database public makes it more useful and more visible, which in turn makes it more likely to be used, and to provide more valuable information to the Bureau and the public about consumer financial services.
“The RFIs pose questions that are almost entirely from an industry perspective and are insufficiently specific to elicit meaningful comment. The RFIs hint at changes desired by industry without providing enough detail to inform members of the public who do not have experience with the internal workings of the Bureau or the implications of the questions. This process weighted in industry’s favor is not consistent with the CFPB mandate to focus on consumer protection.”