Will consumer protection come up during the debate? My guess is not. It seems unlikely that a moderator or President Trump would raise it. I could see President Biden bringing up junk fees, as he has called for their regulation, in response to a question, though I am not expecting it. The headline issues have changed dramatically since 2008’s election in which consumer protection failures contributed to the Great Recession.
But my fantasy consumer protection question goes something like this: President Trump, during your administration, you named as the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau head a person who called the Bureau a sad, sick joke and you blocked a rule that would have protected consumers from losing rights through arbitration clauses consumers couldn’t understand. President Biden, during your administration, consumer regulators adopted rules to cap credit card late fees and block so-called junk fees. If you were re-elected, what consumer protection efforts could we expect from you?
And my fantasy non-consumer protection would be: during your last debate, each of you made predictions that did not come true. President Trump, you predicted that the stock market would crash during a Biden administration. In fact, it has set records. You also said abortion was not on the ballot. President Biden, you predicted that your opponent would accept the election results. In light of your failed predictions, why should we now believe anything you predict about the other?
Post your consumer protection fantasy debate questions in the comments!
