The CPSB is a constitutional monstrosity. Unlike the Vietnam war, it cannot be defunded by congress.
Congress and the DOJ do not exercize what authority they do have over the financial industry.
I read Bailout by Barofsky(?) where he documented how the treasury dept acts to protect the banks from the citizens, not the other way around. I read there are 5 finance industry lobbyists for every member of congress.
I wish all the big banks were broken up into the size we had when I was growing up.
I was at the Dollar Tree the other day and they still had copies of Paulson's "On the Brink" (alternate title: How I Saved the World Without Really Trying).
Man, that thing must have sold like hotcakes. [/sarc]
Anyway, without going into all the ways I hate the man and everything he bends over for, it's still a somewhat enlightening read, albeit dry as dust. And not so because of how he miraculously pulled us back from the brink of financial destruction, single handedly to hear him tell it, which he didn't.
But because it gives an insight into the inner workings of the Fed, treasury, and all the bureaucratic swamp monsters that have their hands on our financial system, ruining and running them into the ground. And more to the benefit of the big banks, not the credit consumers.
The big banks were on the hook for gazillions of dollars in bad investment debt, individual consumers were on the hook for gazillions of dollars in mortgage debt. Somebody's gonna lose a gazillion dollars. Guess who? <BZZZZZZZZZZZZ> WRONG! The U.S. dollar is the ultimate loser. It loses value, resulting in inflation. No prob for .gov-- they can print all they want. No prob for the big banks who can use those new dollars to cover their losses and continue making more bad bets, whose losses will also be covered.
But the man or woman who still has to earn those dollars the hard way, just to keep their heads above water, are the ultimate losers too, when the loser dollar loses value. That's everybody, mortgage or no.
If there's a Dollar Tree near you, I would advise getting one. Where else can you read about your country going to sh!t, and for only one buck. Thanks to their policies, it will soon cost you a couple three bucks. Guaranteed.