Trump administration bringing balance to CFPB

One of the most egregious overreaches of the Obama era was the anti-growth and meddlesome Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. It was a creation of Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), that alone makes the CFPB toxic for the economy. The first head of the agency was Richard Cordray, a megalomaniac, who not surprisingly ran CFBP as if he was a dictator.

The Trump White House is working to rectify this mess.

From Red State:

Cordray even tried to handpick his own successor despite a transfer of power resulting from the 2016 election. Instead, President Donald J. Trump appointed Mick Mulvaney as the new acting director of the CFPB. Mulvaney pledged balance and fairness as the Bureau’s new head. “We don’t just work for the government, we work for the people, “Mulvaney wrote in a memo to his staff, “And that means everyone: those who use credit cards and those who provide those cards; those who take loans and those who make them; those who buy cars and this who sell them. All of those people are part of what makes this country great. And all of them deserve to be treated fairly by their government. There is a reason that lady justice wears a blindfold and carries a balance, along with her sword.“

Mulvaney has delivered on his promise of fairness. Under his leadership, the CFPB has been reconstructed into a fair, even-keeled government organization designed to protect consumers without deliberately trying to damage private companies.

Now begins yet another new chapter for the CFPB. President Trump has said he will nominate Kathy Kraninger to replace Mulvaney as the Bureau’s permanent director. As Mulvaney winds down his leadership of the CFPB, he ought to hand off to Kraninger a clean slate by closing the books on lingering or outstanding investigations, complaints, or lawsuits. For example, in his memo, Mulvaney specifically warned against the negative economic impacts of multi-year Civil Investigative Demands.

Many investigations have gone on for years. The companies being investigated have invested tens of millions of dollars, sometimes hundreds of millions, in compliance and risk infrastructure. They have invested in innovative technologies to help more consumers. These companies should not sit endlessly in the CFPB penalty box after having improved standards since the financial crisis. These were never intended to be open-ended investigations. Mulvaney should conclude these cases, assess fines or other penalties where appropriate, and let them move on.

Meanwhile, Democrats in the US Senate have vowed to obstruct Kraninger's appointment.

Dems, it's time to move on. The Republicans won and you lost.