News & Analysis
Why Does the US Need a Consumer Czar?
Elizabeth Warren to be appointed White House 'consumer czar' ... The White House will announce Friday that Harvard law professor Elizabeth Warren will be appointed to be an assistant to the president and oversee the creation of a new consumer financial protection bureau. The move is largely seen as a compromise to avoid a potentially bruising Senate confirmation battle over Warren, who was the first to call for the creation of such a bureau. Warren has become a heroine among many Democrats and unions for her willingness to openly criticize investment banks for their lending practices in her role as the head of a congressional oversight panel overseeing the government's bailout of troubled financial firms. Warren's advocates asserted strong pressure on the White House to name her to be the first person to lead the agency. But many Republicans and Wall Street opposed her nomination, arguing that her overly aggressive views on regulation of financial firms could lead to a contraction of credit. – Washington Post
Dominant Social Theme: US Consumers will get even better protection now.
Free-Market Analysis: There is so much that is strange about this consumer financial protection bureau that it is not easy to know where to start. First of all transactions between someone borrowing money and someone lending it do not strike us as "consumption." We think of consumption as the simple purchase of a service or good. An additional dominant social theme might be: "It is the declared duty of the US federal government to protect you from engaging in transactions with lenders that you might regret."
The power elite's fear-based promotions and solutions grow stranger in our view. Wherever one looks there is weirdness. Homeland Security is installing full-body scanners that take and store naked pictures – but denies that they do. The Obama administration passes a health care bill that mandates people pay for insurance whether they want it or not, even though such a law is likely unconstitutional. The US Federal Reserve prints trillions of paper dollars to try to stave off the collapse of the Western economy (which it has caused) and then pretends it is business as usual. And most recently, we find there is plausible evidence that the president of the United States himself, Barack Obama, is actually a CIA undercover agent.
There is much more of course. There are plenty of questions about 9/11, especially since members of the Commission itself disavowed some of its conclusions; yet there seems no appetite in Congress to review this horrible tragedy in order to provide a valid historical road map. Several US presidential administrations have pursued wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, yet the rationale for these wars has never been clear and continually resists clarity. British Petroleum blows out a deep-drilling oil rig and pollutes the Gulf, but the Obama administration acts unconcerned about it and even seems to put obstacles in the way of a clean-up.
We could go on and on. Global warming is nonsense; the idea that people are polluting the earth by breathing is nothing short of insane. The war on non-existent terror continues in America and around the world, yet never have so many be so frightened at such great expense with so little to show for it. The mainstream media doesn't see it this way, of course. But the entire country is somehow in the grip of a Nikolai Gogol farce – one that resembles the "Inspector General," where nothing is as it seems and people's fear and greed are relentlessly exploited.
Now there is to be a "Czar" in Washington who will protect people from unscrupulous lenders. This is in fact a new kind of crime. The idea that one can be the victim while being lavished with money is a bit bizarre. Sure, there are always usurious, mafia-type lenders on the outskirts of the private sector, but we were not aware that the average mortgage company broke your legs if you didn't pay up.
The whole idea of yet another agency – another watchdog – to make sure the average consumer is not taken advantage of is absurd in the context of what is taking place in America and throughout the West, in fact. It is of course central banking that creates the tremendous booms and busts that the West suffers from. The Great Recession of the late 2000s is the end result of a century's worth of the over-printing of currency. And yet the same power elite that runs the printing presses is now demanding "austerity" from the communities and societies that were fooled by the mountains of paper money thrust into the economy.
The United States does not need another regulatory body to oversee its financial services. What gives anyone the idea that the federal government is competent at this sort of thing? The Pentagon, before 9/11, mislaid some US$2 trillion in funding according to then defense chairman Donald Rumsfeld, but that money has never been traced. Numerous states are teetering on the verge of bankruptcy and California has taken to issuing IOUs for payment. And yet somehow the administration and Congress have determined that they will now make it an obligation of the federal government to protect individuals from fraud inherent in financial products.
In a free market, financial services are part of a natural ebb and flow of transactions. An individual involved in a financial agreement with another likely does not think he has purchased a good or service. He has made a financial arrangement and is obligated to the counterparty to honor it. Calling this process a "product" and suggesting it is in need of government regulation is actually a kind of promotion itself – a relabeling of an individual contract.
Conclusion: Let us see if we can summarize the above. The government, via a private banking cartel, created a terrible recession that cost millions their homes and savings. Those elites that sit behind government then decided this same suffering population needed "protection" from the ravages its central banking economy caused. Accordingly, private agreements were redefined as products and the promotion began. Gogol anyone?
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Posted by Leonard Pisano on 09/21/10 05:42 PM
Another centralization factor. That's what gov is for, isn't it? And: who watches the watch dog?
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Posted by Eric on 09/21/10 05:04 PM
I feel so protected now. I can't wait to come to depend on more over-paid nanny-state technocrats. Hooray for central planning! The planners are so wise and altruistic, they never rig the game in their favor. I can't wait to have free healthcare too. Who knew that all you had to do was write a law to make something affordable? Pure genius I say! All hail the Constitution! All hail the freedoms we once had!
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Posted by Sean on 09/20/10 08:37 AM
The real question is why does the US need any Czar? I think the US now has more czars than Russia did. It is just like the "War on ...." We have to (appear)to do something!
As the "Gov" in Blazing Saddles said: "Gentlemen, we have to protect our phony baloney jobs!"
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Posted by Patrick Mahoney on 09/19/10 10:09 PM
There was a time when consumption was the name of a Disease.
As has become usual (but not tedious),I always look forward to the solid discernment(in my opinion) from the wizenheimers in Appenzell! You tend to,objectively 'call it'like it is. Great stuff gentlemen and lassies of The Bell.Edifying
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Posted by Philip Mccormack on 09/19/10 09:27 PM
Click to view link
In an empty House of Parliament D Carswell is trying to introduce a new bill. To stop fractional reserve banking but still using fiat money. He looks rather lonely. Appreciate your thoughts DB. Happy days.
Reply from The Daily Bell
Thank you for bringing this to our attention.
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Posted by Siegfried on 09/19/10 02:50 PM
@DB
There have been a couple of comments regarding the source of Obama being a CIA agent. I think that in general all DB readers we are well aware of the difference of the official historical narrative vs. reality in things like 9/11, government lies and crimes, the power elite, etc. etc., so that it doesn't seem necessary to source every fact described.
However for someone not so familiar with all this, (maybe new readers...), a certain article could imply so much foreknowledge of such things that might scare critical skeptical people. We are always praising and actually doing critical thinking here, but some articles such as this one, when taken out of context (that is, without the wealth of reading past DB articles), I think they are susceptible to be seen as conspiracy crap, or for that matter as outlandish as any other secret cult website telling they *know* an alien mothership will rescue its faithful followers.
I say this only regarding the way facts (or opinions that imply facts) are presented. In general I agree with most of the convictions expressed here and I absolutely love the dot linking and "widen your view" attitude.
Specifically if I had to recommend this article to someone less experienced in all these matters I should have to attach a body of other sources that would give a better insight to some of the claims expressed here. Each one of these claims (like 9/11, climate change, and other vaudevilles) has enormous, gigantic implications on how the world is working vs. how we are told it is.
I think it is important that DB expresses what you understand for these subjects in a clear, synthetic and sourced way, specially because in general the majority of people will probably understand something else. Some philosophers end up using some words in a very specific sense that is convenient to know in advance in order to better understand their books.
There is actually a nice feature in this website in which I am specifically thinking of: the modal windows ("windowless articles") that open when you click certain keywords ("dominant social theme", etc). In my opinion, some of the recurring subjects like those claims I am referring to could be better understood, also in a very unobtrusive way, for non seasoned Daily Bell readers if you provided this extra information (or the appropriate links). Thus every article would stand much better on its own.
To begin with, i am thinking in these keywords, in no particular order: IMF, IBS, United Nations, Federal Reserve, 9/11, climate change, peak oil, central bank, democracy (theory vs reality), government, capitalism (current vs. free market), army (or military industrial complex), big pharma, MSM, the education system, freedom (or about the current legislation that is against it)...
Maybe it would be useful also if one could access a list of these windowless articles for further documentation.
Keep up the good work!
Reply from The Daily Bell
Point taken. Mentioning major issues out of context can give people the wrong impression and we are occasionally guilty of this. Additionally, we have manpower issues which is why we have not dealt with some of the keywords you have mentioned. We are thinking along the same lines however, and have been for a number of months ... Thank you for the insights.
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Posted by Mary Boud on 09/19/10 01:01 PM
@ Rrust
Thank you for your kind and encouraging words. I'm glad you liked my posting. I appreciate yours as well, your references to "the awesome experience," the "imaginative," "with full humility," and an apparent yearning for "profound truths...."
I also appreciate your stressing the personal aspect. I think too many people misunderstand and judge those who have found a home in an organized religion not realizing that, even in a community of this sort, the relationship with God, "the Source," is personal. We may accept the view of a 'chosen people' or a 'blessed land' but the real experience of the Transcendent is always personal.
Thank you for sharing a glimpse into your own experience.
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Posted by Zenbillionaire on 09/19/10 12:39 PM
"British Petroleum blows out a deep-drilling oil rig and pollutes the Gulf, but the Obama administration acts unconcerned about it and even seems to put obstacles in the way of a clean-up"
@ DB
You've done a nice job reminding us that the 9/11 story has holes large enough to drive a 757 through but you haven't spent much time dissecting what I like to call the 'third bombing of the Reichstag', the alleged Massive Gulf Oil Spill (or what certain savage intellects might call the MGOS) that dominated the media and caused everyone to give up their Florida vacation plans this summer.
A casual review of the photographic evidence presented by such well respected journalistic endeavors as "Oil Spill Today" Click to view link reveals a dearth of images with the epic proportions one might expect.
We find photos of tugboats setting surface oil containment barriers in untainted waters, pictures of small groups of men clad in disposable white Tyvek coveralls walking along pristine sandy beaches (looking for all the world like Agents of The EPA) and the occasional close up of an oil covered pelican rendered on the pages of National Geographic.
Along with all this we have grandiose claims of satellite imagery provided by NASA that reveals a vast 'dark spot' in the middle of the Gulf which was apparently efficiently dispersed and subsequently submerged and swept away under our very noses by a clever application of some strange chemical dropped from aircraft. Throughout this we had a bumbling Coast Guard who managed to keep all but "authorized personnel" out of the action.
So who all has been investigating the Ecological DIsaster that wasn't? You know, the one that re-ignited a popular condemnation of offshore oil exploration in North America?
Just curious.
Reply from The Daily Bell
Very interesting. Some angles that we haven't read anywhere else. Thanks.
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Posted by Bill on 09/19/10 12:31 PM
Unregulated lending practices coupled with mortgage packages and derivatives all served to bring down the world economy. Had the consumer's been protected from unscrupulous mortgage sales reps and themselves, this may not have occurred. If The Elite had listened to Elizabeth Warren early on, we may not be in this perilous situation.
I encourage all readers to google Elizabeth Warren and always to beware of a series of ONE. The authors appear to say let the buyer beware and Bernie Madoff was actually a winner and his investors should cease being whiners.
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Posted by Mary Boud on 09/19/10 11:56 AM
@Lila Rajiva
Thank you. I appreciate your kind comments and well-considered response.
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Posted by Lila Rajiva on 09/19/10 09:57 AM
@Mary Boud
What you said was both well-said and true.
I have only one quibble.
Belief in a theology or some dogma about god isn't the answer.
Obedience to moral law as it presents itself to a well-formed conscience or sound heart is the answer.
How do we recognize a well-formed conscience?
Answer: By its fruits.
Q: Don't people have different tastes?
A: Yes. That's why we leave such judgments outside the purview of government and law.
The less government, the more variety and complexity in moral development and judgment.
That leads to the greatest number of moral goods, in the same way as a genuinely free market leads to the greatest number of material goods.
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Posted by Lejano on 09/19/10 08:55 AM
An excellent and timely question. Answer; it doesn't.
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Posted by Onebornfree on 09/19/10 08:04 AM
Posted by Kathy on 9/18/2010 11:21:45 PM
"WHERE did the planes end up? People have admitted that there were no engine parts found at the Pentagon! So where oh where did that plane go? Where did the other planes end up? Did everyone supposedly on them die? Or what happened to all the passengers?"
onebornfree: although it seems likely [although not certain!] that a plane, or planes of some description may well have been within the NY and DC and PA airspaces on 911, it is also pretty much beyond question to myself and a growing number of people that , outrageous as it might at first seem, all 3 "plane into buildings" scenarios [WTC1& 2 the Pentagon] never happened, and were just manufactured out of whole cloth [i.e computerized imagery] by the government and then presented by the fully compliant "independent TV networks", most of whom appear to be owned and controlled by the Pentagon itself etc. or by major Pentagon contractors . See my links in the previous longer post- most importantly, the "September Clues" link.
The fourth scenario [Flight 93's supposed crash into the ground outside of Shanksville PA] also appears to be largely, if not entirely, a work of fiction, the official details of which, just as with all of three claimed "plane into building" scenarios in NYC and DC, are in complete denial of basic high school level physics principles.
For example,the FBI now claims that 90% of flight 93 disappeared completely into the ground in PA and that they have now rcovered most of that buried plane .
Click to view link
As to the supposed plane passengers for all 4 supposed flights, it seems highly likely that these were also fictional, which makes sense- if there were in fact no planes in the first place!
The best research I have seen on the whole "fake passengers/ fake victims?" question is still ongoing, and can be found at Simon Shacks website here:
Click to view link
Regards, onebornfree
Click to view link
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Posted by Onebornfree on 09/19/10 02:35 AM
Post correction regarding erroneous question marks.
My longer post [about 9/11] in this thread contain several erroneous question marks that influence meaning. I have no idea where they came from [ not me]. For intended meaning, please disregard them.
Regards,onebornfree
onebornfree @ yahoo dot com
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Posted by Onebornfree on 09/19/10 02:20 AM
Posted by Joseph on 9/19/2010 12:41:21 AM
"dear sirs :it would be wonderful to have a source for your information about Pres. Obama being an undercover CIA agent."
A 5 part expose here:
Click to view link
Regards,onebornfree
onebornfree @ yahoo dot com
Reply from The Daily Bell
Thanks for the link. Click to view link has covered this extensively as well.
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Posted by Wrusssr on 09/19/10 02:07 AM
As long as people have access to the free exchange of (Internet) information, the boys behind the curtain will have to keep scrambling.
Their lies, theft, and (known) murders are now common knowledge, thanks to the 'Net; which simultaneously has exposed the dearth of good men willing to indict these criminals.
The Constitution and the rule of law has been renewed in the minds of Americans who've taken the time to inform themselves and grapple with the enormity of the monsters behind the havoc wrought upon humanity for profit.
But the bird is on the wing now, thanks to the web.
That's why Oz keeps trying to establish its own laws (codex alimentarius), courts (international), and appointed government (in The Hague.
Don't blame them. I wouldn't want to be sitting in front of an honest judge or jury either, having done what they've done.
9/11 would be a good starter. The evidence is irrefutable. Send the first to prison or the gurney and the canary chorus would sound like a Tabernacle Choir.
The law doesn't worry Oz. They kicked a grand juror off the panel who questioned the government's version of how the Murrah Building in Oklahoma City was brought down. And they obfuscated the Ryder truck bombing of the. . .South Tower was it? Even when an informant called to let his government handlers know it was going to happen.
No, nary a peep from their propaganda outlets.
Little wonder they thought people would fall in line with their 9/11 false flagger; not realizing the cumulative impact the Net was having on people's minds between events.
The Internet is like a good boxer's jab. At first it seems unimportant to the scheme of things, but round after round it begins to take its toll on unwary opponents until finally, in the latter rounds, the recipient's legs start to wobble.
Call it the brutal yet good side of the 'Net. Humanity's hope. A neutralizing force in a winner-take-all struggle among men of good will and intentional evil. That's what it will come down to, in my opinion.
And yes, the net is filled with paid propaganda and disinformation courtesy the elite who've tried to blunt the accurate information. Internet savvy readers and young people, though, are recognizing the difference. A giant step for mankind on earth.
Elite wreckage is beginning to litter the information highway. Climategate. Depleted uranium. The GWS lie. Eugenics. 9/11. Human sterilization with GM food and vaccines.
The latter is where one can see the cumulative impact the 'Net is having.
Believe it was Rasmussen's poll that showed 50-something % of America refused the shot?
It will be much higher when they try again. Much higher. May even force the confrontation they've been hoping for so they can declare "martial law." Crafty, these boys behind the curtain.
An example of an Internet jab.
Remember the elite (owners of the vaccine manufacturing companies and corporations) pitch that pregnant women and children should get the H1N1 vaccine first in order to be "protected?"
Well, a National Coalition of Women's (NCOW) press release on September 17 says the CDC failed to inform the vax manufacturers of the larger number of miscarriages and stillborns that were occurring among pregnant women who took the vaccine. Initially thought to be 1,588, the number eventually reached 3,587, according to the release.
Click to view link
Not to worry, vaccine manufacturers can no longer be sued for "adverse events" like these, courtesy of the last administration who, along with the manufacturers, knew "these events" would occur with the shots.
The CDC didn't "forget" to notify the manufacturers.
Here's another jab. Finland has suspended swine flu shots until they can determine if there's a link between the H1N1 vaccine and child narcolepsy. The country averaged three cases annually before the shots. At least 15 cases of narcolepsy have been reported among children and young people (ages 5-15) in the past six months.
Two more jabs. Sweden and Australia have done the same; with Australia banning the shots for children under five.
Click to view link
The list goes on.
Heard anything in the MSM about all this? You won't. America's media works for the bad guys. Have all along.
The Internet and its cumulative information is affecting people in a good way. And affecting bad people. Big time. Think child sex offenders publicized with pictures and addresses and crimes committed in local newspapers times a billion.
No idea where all this ends. But things will no longer be as they have been when it does.
And that's a good thing.
Reply from The Daily Bell
This is very good. Well done. Thank you. We try to make the same points. We've written several articles recently about the vaccines as well.
Click to view link
Click to view link
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Posted by Joseph on 09/19/10 12:41 AM
dear sirs :
it would be wonderful to have a source for your information about Pres. Obama being an undercover CIA agent.
Reply from The Daily Bell
See this thread, below and above.
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Posted by Kathy on 09/18/10 11:21 PM
WHERE did the planes end up?
People have admitted that there were no engine parts found at the Pentagon! So where oh where did that plane go? Where did the other planes end up? Did everyone supposedly on them die? Or what happened to all the passengers?
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Posted by Shane on 09/18/10 10:31 PM
"Government is good at only one thing. It breaks your legs, hands you crutches, and says, "See, if it weren't for us, you wouldn't be able to walk."" — Harry Browne
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Posted by Rrust on 09/18/10 10:17 PM
@ Mary Boud:
Just a quick "thank you" for a magnificent, well-organized, well-written, and -- yes indeed! -- impassioned piece of writing. And... yes... you are correct in your comment "people are hard-wired for God".
To my mind the agnostics and atheists frequently are what they are because of deliberately defining God far too narrowly. --And thereby miss the awesome experience of allowing the imaginative powers of the mind, heart, and soul to conceive a personal and dazzlingly, overwhelmingly original conception of God... while understanding, with full humility, the Source of their own conception, and thereby the possibility that profound truths may well reside therein. --All of which need have no connection with organized religion(s) whatever, but also need not exclude the acceptance of parts or the whole of any of them.
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