Posted on 10/09/2009 5:46:59 PM PDT by My Favorite Headache
WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama fought to keep his proposed banking overhaul on track Friday, casting the political struggle ahead as one between big financial interests and average Americans victimized by complex or unscrupulous financial transactions.
The president illustrated his call for a consumer finance agency by showcasing five unwitting borrowers and bank customers whose troubles ranged from massive overdraft fees to unwanted interest-only mortgages.
"My concern are the millions of Americans who behaved responsibly and yet still found themselves in jeopardy because of the predatory practices of some in the financial industry," Obama said from the East Room of the White House.
Taking time out of a day overshadowed by his Nobel Peace Prize award, Obama confronted opponents, singling out the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which is conducting a $2 million advertising and organizing effort to defeat the consumer plan.
"They're doing what they always do — descending on Congress and using every bit of influence they have to maintain a status quo that has maximized their profits at the expense of American consumers," Obama said of his critics.
The proposed consumer agency is a central element of a package of financial regulatory changes the administration says would prevent crisis like the one that brought Wall Street to its knees last year.
Critics such as the Chamber of Commerce have said the consumer agency is unnecessary and would impose restrictions even on retailers.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
More government...another czar...that is all he has for answers.
Would that be protection from Big Brother and his treasonous Socialists?
More gubmint jobs. “Green ($$$$) shoots”.
Obama is a lying sack of - - - Obama.
Predatory industry....
I guess forcing them to make loans they KNEW would never be paid back wasn’t predatory, eh?
I’ve woken up on Liberal Bizzarro Planet, where words now say exactly the opposite of what they mean.
George Orwell called it “DOUBLESPEAK”
Deadbeats, in other words.
What an outmoded notion.
Another year of Obama and there won’t be any “consuming” beyond subsistence food and water.
The old consumer economy is already dead, just waiting to be pushed over.
How long before we see stories about people living in their new “Cash For Clunker” purchases?
A ride up one of the busiest commercial streets near me is an endless view of closed down business, empty buildings, vacant new and used car lots.
On the other hand, second hand stores, Good Will, the Salvation Army, St. Paul deVincent and other recyclers are going strong.
Hardly. It means protection 'family-style.' Mob families that is.
Consumer protection? Does that mean he is going to cut government spending and taxes so we have money to consume?
***I guess forcing them to make loans they KNEW would never be paid back wasn’t predatory, eh?***
Exactly! CRA and Fannie May and Freddie Mac which were brain children of the Dems caused the whole problem.
What's an "unwanted" interest-only mortgage? Is that where mortgage lenders break into your home, hold a gun to your head and demand you sign mortgage loan documents???
Wonderful idea, wonderful. We can pay for it with the 5% national value added tax Speaker Nancy is pushing.
I had a Loan Officer at a major credit Union tell me Tues. Night that she was getting loans underwritten by DU at Famnnie Mae, that she KNEW would never get paid back.
One woman actually told her that a “Community Organizer” had suggested it as a way to get AT LEAST one year of free rent.
And NO ONE in the MEdia (Except Fox) will even DARE to mention the Billions and Billions in inner-city mortgage fraud,(It goes without saying that it’s largely DEMOCRAT-CONNECTED), that under-pinned the entire default circus.
Not very long ago I found out that I couldn’t transfer money from my savings to my checking accounts more than 6 times a month. Once I went passed that, I would be charged $10 every time. When I talked to the bank, the lady on the phone told me it was a federal rule. They want us to save our money. What a joke. The funny thing is I could pull money from my savings from the ATM or go inside the bank as many times as I want. If that is really a federal rule, I wonder what Mr. O would say about that?
I don’t like it when bank’s dictate how I can control my own money...was this BOA by chance?
Nope, Wells Fargo.
Wells is one of the good ones....they are NOT one of the payers in this mess...
they did not buckle to ACORN
I don’t like their idiotic fees if you don’t put money from your checking to savings account once a month. I don’t know if the lady on the phone was telling the truth about what I was complaining about in post #16.
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