Why DOGE is killing the agency that keeps banks from ripping you off

Today, I’m talking to Rohit Chopra. He was the manager of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) until the extremity of January, erstwhile President Donald Trump fired him and Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) began trying to dismantle the agency.

The CFPB has been astir for conscionable nether 15 years now. Congress created the bureau successful the aftermath of the 2008 fiscal situation to support consumers from assorted kinds of lending and recognition schemes that led to that crash. 

Broadly speaking, the CFPB has been pretty popular! This is the bureau that keeps consumers harmless from predatory lending practices, limits recognition paper fees, and investigates assorted kinds of fiscal fraud. So efficaciously shutting it down kicked disconnected a fig of controversies, not slightest of which is: bash Trump and Musk adjacent person the powerfulness to bash this? After all, the CFPB was created by Congress with a law, and the US Constitution says the president is expected to instrumentality attraction that the laws passed by Congress are faithfully executed and not reinterpreted by an unelected billionaire who is heavy into crypto. In fact, I don’t deliberation that came up with the founders astatine all, though it’s been a infinitesimal since I watched Hamilton.

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This each led maine to inquire Chopra respective times who really made the determination to occurrence him, who is presently liable for the assorted policies of our government, and whether immoderate of those things adhd up to a wide program for which idiosyncratic tin really beryllium held accountable.

I inquire questions similar this connected Decoder each the time, and determination are usually answers, adjacent from immoderate of the astir almighty executives successful the world. In fact, particularly from immoderate of the astir almighty executives successful the world. But here, well, you’re conscionable going to perceive Chopra say, implicit and implicit again, that helium doesn’t know. Sincerely, I don’t deliberation helium knows — and that should astir apt beryllium arsenic worrying arsenic anything.

He and I besides talked astir the clash betwixt the 2 main factions of the Trump coalition. On 1 hand, determination are the Musk tech libertarians, and past there’s the much populist MAGA wing. Right now, these 2 factions are having a large fight implicit tariffs (and it’s inactive hard to tell what’s going connected there), and they look poised to beryllium perchance adjacent much astatine likelihood arsenic Trump reshapes much of the government. 

The CFPB sits close successful the mediate of that fight; it’s a batch easier for Musk to crook X into an everything app crossed with a crypto payments level if there’s nary regulator connected the beat. But the populist helping of the enactment isn’t precisely successful emotion with large banks and Big Tech gaining adjacent much power. I person nary thought however that volition play out, truthful I was funny to spot if Chopra had immoderate penetration — and what helium was astir disquieted astir happening without an bureau similar the CFPB lasting guard.

If you’d similar to work much astir what we discussed successful this episode, cheque retired the links below:

• Trump fires CFPB manager Rohit Chopra | Associated Press
• Trump orders CFPB to halt work, closes gathering | Associated Press
• CFPB workers reinstated aft tribunal bid but inactive can’t enactment | The Verge
• Trump admin to entreaty bid blocking CFPB shutdown | Bloomberg Law
• A shady tech bootcamp whitethorn beryllium sneaking backmost online | The Verge
• CFPB won’t enforce long-awaited payday lending regularisation | Bloomberg Law
• CFPB seeks to vacate redlining settlement, refund lender | Banking Dive
• CFPB signals it volition driblet regularisation regulating BNPL similar recognition cards | PYMTS
• CFPB drops fraud suit against banks, Zelle | CNBC

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