Author Archives: Jeff Sovern

Guest Post by Norman I. Silber: Consumer Protection in a Trump Administration: The CPSC and the FCC

Earlier today, in an American Bar Association Antitrust Section webinar chaired by Harvey Saferstein, and with panelists Deborah Goldstein, Center for Responsible Lending, and Daniel D. Sokol, Professor of Law, University of Florida Levin College of Law, Hofstra's Norman I. Silber delivered the remarks that appear below about the Consumer Product Safety Commission and the Federal Communications […]

Am Banker: Trump team signals it will oust CFPB’s Cordray

by Jeff Sovern Here (behind paywall). Excerpt: Exactly how President-elect Donald Trump intends to get rid of Cordray is unclear. Under the Dodd-Frank Act, Cordray can only be fired "for cause," and some speculate that the Trump administration is already building a case against the CFPB chief. One source with knowledge of the situation told […]

Cass Sunstein in Bloomberg View: “Why Trump Can’t Just Say ‘You’re Fired’ to” CFPB’s Cordray

Here.  Excerpt: Any effort to discharge Cordray would be illegal — and it might even precipitate something close to a constitutional crisis. * * * Both Republican and Democratic presidents have not loved the idea of independent agencies, operating outside of their daily control. But in 1935,[in the Humphries Exec case], the Supreme Court unanimously agreed […]

Book Announcement: Duke’s Edward J. Balleisen: Fraud: An American History from Barnum to Madoff

More here.  Chapters that look as if they may be of particular interest to CL&P blog readers include The Enduring Dilemmas of Antifraud Regulation, The Shape-Shifting, Never-Changing World of Fraud, The Call for Investor and Consumer Protection (1930s to 1970s),  Moving toward Caveat Venditor,  Consumerism and the Reorientation of Antifraud Policy The Promise and Limits of […]

Paul Bland in Money: Potential CFPB Head is a “Complete Hack for the Industry”

Here.  Excerpt: Trump is expected to almost immediately dismiss Richard Cordray, who has been the head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) since its creation in 2011. * * * "Consumer protection is important to a well-functioning financial marketplace," Neugebauer wrote in one of his arguments for a new CFPB structure. But "this protection […]

Bloomberg BNA: Trump and Cordray: Five Scenarios for the CFPB

Here. Excerpt: It’s also possible that Trump and Cordray may yet find common ground. * * * The Trump-Pence transition team, while generally tagging the Dodd-Frank Act as a brake on economic growth, has said nothing specific about the CFPB or its director. And although the conventional wisdom is that there’s little common ground between […]

House Financial Services Chair Hensarling: Financial CHOICE Act Will Change

Politico interviewed him here.  Excerpt: There will be some areas that will be improved but fundamentally you are going to look at a very similar piece of legislation that is going to replace bailouts with bankruptcy, that's going to give working Americans greater opportunities when it comes to their mortgages, their credit cards and achieving […]

More on the Possiblity of Neugebauer Replacing CFPP Director Cordray

From HuffPo. Excerpt: Trump met with former Rep. Randy Neugebauer (R-Texas) on Wednesday and is considering Neugebauer to run the CFPB, Trump spokesman Sean Spicer confirmed on a Thursday call with reporters. A source close to the transition team told HuffPost that Neugebauer has yet to be offered the job, but that no other candidates […]