Free Republic

Sen. Tim Johnson is expected to take the reins of the Senate Banking Committee next year following Chairman Chris Dodd’s decision not to run for re-election, according to sources. A spokeswoman for Johnson confirmed that the South Dakota Democrat is "next in line for the position." "Now that Chairman Dodd has made his future plans known, Sen. Johnson is ready to assume the role," she said. "He is more than up to the task and has the confidence of the Majority Leader and his colleagues on the committee." Johnson is currently the No. 2 Democrat on the Banking Committee, but...

WASHINGTON - During consideration of H.R. 3126, legislation to establish a Consumer Financial Protection Agency (CFPA), Democrats on the House Financial Services Committee voted to pass an amendment offered by Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) that will make ACORN eligible to play a role in setting regulations for financial institutions. The Waters amendment adds to the CFPA Oversight Board 5 representatives from the fields of "consumer protection, fair lending and civil rights, representatives of depository institutions that primarily serve underserved communities, or representatives of communities that have been significantly impacted by higher-priced mortgages" to join Federal banking regulators in advising the...

Are consumers "protected" when they are denied the opportunity to buy products and services that are available to others? Is that what consumers want?...These are the questions raised by the Obama administration's proposal for a Consumer Financial Protection Agency. Traditionally, consumer protection in the United States has focused on disclosure. It has always been assumed that with adequate disclosure all consumers -- of whatever level of sophistication -- could make rational decisions about the products...No more. If the administration's plan is adopted, many consumers will be told that they cannot have particular products...because they are not sophisticated, educated or intelligent...

Back in August, during the panic over mortgages, Alan Greenspan offered reassurance to an anxious public. The current turmoil, the former Federal Reserve Board chairman said, strongly resembled brief financial scares such as the Russian debt crisis of 1998 or the U.S. stock market crash of 1987. Not to worry. But in the background, one could hear the groans and feel the tremors as larger political and economic tectonic plates collided. Nine months later, Greenspan's soothing analogies no longer wash. The U.S. economy faces unprecedented debt levels, soaring commodity prices and sliding home prices, to say nothing of a weak...

March 30, 2008 Manufacturing’s comeback chance Economic Outlook David Smith WITH apologies to any of them who might be reading this, is it time we dumped the investment bankers, accountants and consultants and concentrated on the people who make things, Britain’s manufacturers? Does the credit crunch - a term Mervyn King has now taken to using - mark the point at which we should go back to basics, by rediscovering the things that made Britain great? A week in which Jaguar and Land Rover have been sold to India’s Tata may seem a curious time to be asking such a...

No Fidelity to Hub: Up to 1,500 employees to exitBy Scott Van Voorhis and Jay Fitzgerald Friday, January 6, 2006 - Updated: 12:14 AM EST The Hub’s battered job base buckled yesterday, with Fidelity Investments confirming plans to export jobs to Rhode Island in a move that could pull as many as 1,500 workers out of downtown Boston.       The move by one of Boston’s oldest and largest employers, first reported in yesterday’s Herald, will eventually send 800 workers to a new building in the works on Fidelity’s growing, Smithfield, R.I., campus. In the meantime, 400 of those workers...

CHICAGO -- Consumer confidence in the security of online financial services has declined considerably, in response to continual reports of identity theft and phishing scams, experts told UPI's The Web. "There's been a loss of trust in the channel, but not in specific brands," said Bruce Cundiff, a research analyst with Javelin Strategy & Research in Pleasanton, Calif., producer of a new report called "Phishing: Consumer Awareness and Behavior." By Gene Koprowski