With even Dr. Phil coming out in favor of Warren for CFPB head, Chris Dodd very much opposed and waffling about why, and a new rap video about Professor Warren going viral, according to an article in the New York Times, Americans are waiting to see what the President will do. I agree with readers who say this’ll take some courage, but Mr. President,you wouldn't ignore Professor's Warren's record and instead listen to Senator Dodd, would you? That wouldn't make much sense. By the way, I am not friends with Elizabeth Warren (unlike Dr. Phil apparently and many of my co-bloggers) and have never given a dime to any political campaign. Differences in world view aside, no one can claim this Harvard law professor is not the most qualified. The CFPB is a reality now and going to be staffed, no doubt at very significant expense. If we are going to do this, and I guess we are, why not give credit-crushed consumers (see Aug. 21 New York Times article) good value for their money and appoint someone who will most swiftly and efficiently fulfill the mission (and namesake) of the bureau. In this instance in particular, shouldn't we get our money's worth?
Category: Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
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Colbert: Elizabeth Warren Is No Oprah
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Stephen Colbert last night opining that "a huge budget and no constraint on authority" should be reserved only for Oprah Winfrey here, including an interview with Barney Frank on why Warren is the best pick.
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A Puzzle
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Working my way through the local paper today, I stumbled across a story on consumer credit. Against my usual inclinations, I read on. It tells the story of how banks routinely sell old debts, that is, debts past the statute of limitations, for about 0.2 cents per dollar. For my co-bloggers, this is probably old news.
But the question that occurs to me, is why do we allow such sales? Just as we don't allow markets to sell expired milk, no matter what the discount, it would seem that allowing sales of debts that can only be enforced by trick is unlikely to be socially useful or something that our banking regulators should condone.
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Credit Slips & the WSJ’s Washington Wire
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Mary Pilon of the Wall Street Journal's Washington Wire has a post up about Elizabeth Warren's blogging here at Credit Slips. Long-time readers will undoubtedly remember many of these posts highlighted there. I'll highlight two others. First, there is a post dated September 14, 2008, just after the U.S. government's bailout of Bear Stearns with some prescient comments about what the future would hold:
More bailouts will be needed, and, at some point, even the American taxpayer can't handle it. Bailouts will not put a stop to the underlying problem: we can't
find a bottom in the housing market. Until that happens, the value of
financial instruments based on those mortgage obligations will keep
falling, and the worldwide market will keep sliding toward collapse.Second, one of my favorite posts from Warren was this one about the distinction between facts and deductive reasoning. We used this great example in the introductory materials to our empirical methods text.
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Where’s the Beef? Elizabeth Warren Edition
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Here's what's striking about all the criticism of Elizabeth Warren: there's no smoking gun. No one has been able to point to anything radical in Elizabeth Warren's extensive body of writing. Where's the beef?
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Secrets about Elizabeth Warren Revealed
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I have known Elizabeth Warren for ten years, and I know her pretty well. I've been to her home; she's been to mine. She sent me baby gifts; I got her a 60th birthday present. We exchange Christmas cards, . . . you get the idea.
Now she's a candidate for this big-time appointment as the Director of the New Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. And somehow there are these things about her that must be deep-dark secrets because it seems like people do not know Elizabeth Warren at all. (As Bob Lawless has written, I think the debate is becoming about a caricature of Prof. Warren, not Prof. Warren the real person.) So here it is . . . Secrets about Elizabeth Warren Revealed.
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Two Thoughts on the Warren Nomination for the CFPB
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The latest catnip for the 24-hour news cycle seems to be speculation on whether President Obama will nominate Elizabeth Warren to head the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Like Adam, I was resistant to say anything on Credit Slips because I figured few would care or be surprised to learn that she has the unequivocal and strong support of a co-author, collaborator, and friend posting on a site where she used to be a regular blogger. As I have read the media reports, it has struck me that the debate is becoming about the caricature of a person I know rather than the actual person. Along those lines, here are two thoughts.
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Elizabeth Warren and the CFPB
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Some of our readers might have noticed that we at Credit Slips have remained remarkably silent about the question of who should head the CFPB. Other bloggers on consumer finance issues have not. Shahien Nasiripour and other HuffPo bloggers (here, e.g.) and Simon Johnson (and here) have declared the nomination of Elizabeth Warren to be a progressive litmus test for the administration. Andrew Leonard and Felix Salmon, among others, have particularly interesting discussions about Professor Warren and some of the other potential nominees. The silence has not been for lack of strongly held opinion, but out of a sense that our opinions would be completely discounted because of our various relationships with Professor Warren and inconsistent with the nature of the blog.