Congressman Brad Miller has some interesting ideas about how to respond to the financial crisis; not exactly on the same page as Treasury. He’s called a hearing for this morning to talk about, in the first instance, how to assess insolvency in the banking system – and what to do about it (he chairs the Investigations and Oversight subcommittee of the House Committee on Science and Technology.) But my guess is that the conversation will cover considerably more ground, including his idea that we establish a Financial Products Safety Commission. (A full preview is now available at our joint venture with the Washington Post.)
The basic notion behind this commission is that consumers were taken advantage of by unscrupulous lenders. Of course, you could also say that consumers fooled themselves, but if that is pervasive and has systemic implications then we need to take it on. In his recent testimony before the Joint Economic Committee, Joe Stiglitz emphasized the need for more consumer protection, and this idea is also strongly advocated by Elizabeth Warren - against the odds, she continues to make some progress. Continue reading
Consumer Protection When All Else Fails (Written Testimony)
I took three points away from yesterday’s hearing in the House of Representatives.
There is still much to argue about and, no doubt, there will be setbacks. We’ll get a better or a worse system, depending on how the debate goes. And if the external scrutiny slips away, so will point #3 above. But this was still by far the most encouraging hearing I’ve so far attended.
The main points from my written testimony to the subcommittee are below.
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Tagged Brad Miller, Consumer Protection, House testimony