Do Nothings?

[Kathianne]

I posted this when it first came out, but as Abbey said elsewhere, 'Sex sells and some things are too hard for people to spend the time to understand.' She of course was referring to the brouhaha over sex video and the lack of coverage of the Wikileaks. Now in fairness, the wikileaks are being covered as folks have time to read through them, not fast enough, but they are coming out.

Here's the first link I posted way back when: http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/435078/republicans-didnt-cave-obama?utm_source=nr&utm_medium=facebook&utm_content=cooke%3Futm_campaign%3Dmyth

Something that might be of interest to those thinking that the 'down ticket' doesn't matter:

http://hotair.com/archives/2016/10/11/appeals-court-consumer-financial-protection-bureaus-structure-unconstitutional/

[Kathianne]

Regarding the second link, while not a catchy topic, it's important:

http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/440971/us-court-appeals-finds-cfpb-structurally-unconstitutional


CFPB “Structurally Unconstitutional” – US Court of Appeals
by IAIN MURRAY October 11, 2016 3:47 PM

In a rare victory for the Constitution and American political tradition, the US Court of Appeals from the DC Circuit today found that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau was “structurally unconstitutional.” The offending structure consists of an independent agency with a single, all-powerful executive director. The Court found that structure fell between two stools – an agency with a single head needs to be accountable to the President, while an independent agency needs to have internal checks and balances by having a multi-member commission format like the SEC and others.

This judgment echoes the arguments the Competitive Enterprise Institute and its co-plaintiffs have been making in a separate court case, where my colleague Hans Bader argued, “The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s lack of checks and balances violates the Constitution’s separation of powers. Its director is like a czar. He is not accountable to anyone, and can’t be fired even if voters elect a president with different ideas about how to protect consumers.”

The Court has now made the director, Richard Cordray, accountable, which means that the President must direct and control the CFPB and its director. He has a lot to do to rein in this rogue agency, as the findings in the rest of the case indicate – the Bureau not only overstepped its powers, it breached due process, and ignored the statute of limitations, in its action against PHH. Whether or not this President will actually take action is, of course, a bit of a moot point.

But Congress also has a role to play. If it wants the CFPB to be independent, it needs to restructure the Bureau in accordance with the Court’s suggestion as a traditional, multi-member commission. It was always the intention of the Bureau’s proponents, including Senator Elizabeth Warren, that the Bureau be independent of political pressure.

If Congress wishes to support that goal of independence, it should pass a bill quickly to allow that to happen. In fact, there is just such a bill – Rep. Randy Neugebauer’s Financial Product Safety Commission Act, introduced last year. If Senator Warren really wants an independent CFPB, she should support it. Such a reform is also included in the Financial CHOICE Act, but that may be too bitter a pill for Dodd-Frank supporters to swallow.

Nevertheless, this is a huge victory for the Constitution and, at last, a repudiation of unaccountable executive power.

[Kathianne]

Hmmm, I guess we see why 'sex sells' and some stuff is 'just hard.'

http://www.professorbainbridge.com/professorbainbridgecom/2016/10/dc-circuit-brings-liz-warrens-misbegotten-cfpb-to-heel.html


10/12/2016DC Circuit brings Liz Warren's misbegotten CFPB to heelOur friends at the Washington Legal Foundation reported (https://wlflegalpulse.wordpress.com/2011/07/18/what-is-the-consumer-financial-protection-bureau/?iframe=true&preview=true) back in July 2011 that:



Answer: This government agency has undefined and vast powers placed in the hands of an unelected and unaccountable bureaucrat.


Question: What is the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau? ...


The bureau is an unelected, unaccountable government agency operating within the Federal Reserve. In fact, its funds are not even appropriated by Congress; instead, they receive their funding from the Federal Reserve itself drawn from its “excess” earned on assets that previously was returned directly to the Treasury. The law explicitly bars the Congress from reviewing the funding of the bureau under Section 1017 of Dodd-Frank.
...