In Case You Missed This... And Support EW & CFPB... 'The Scholars Who Shill for Wall Street'

[WillyT]

The Scholars Who Shill for Wall Street
Academics get paid by financial firms to testify against Dodd-Frank regulations. What’s wrong with this picture?
Lee Fang - October 23, 2013 | This article appeared in the November 11, 2013 edition of The Nation.



<snip>

Professor Todd Zywicki is vying to be the toughest critic of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the new agency set up by the landmark Dodd-Frank financial reform law to monitor predatory lending practices. In research papers and speeches, Zywicki not only routinely slams the CFPB’s attempts to regulate bank overdraft fees and payday lenders; he depicts the agency as a “parochial” bureaucracy that is “guaranteed to run off the rails.” He has also become one of the leading detractors of the CFPB’s primary architect, Elizabeth Warren, questioning her seminal research on medical bankruptcies and slamming her for once claiming Native American heritage to gain “an edge in hiring.”

Zywicki’s withering arguments against financial reform have earned him guest columns in The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Times and on The New York Times’s website. Lobbyists representing the largest consumer finance companies in the country have cited his writings in letters to regulators, and the number of times he has testified before Congress is prominently displayed on his academic website at the George Mason University School of Law.

What isn’t contained in Zywicki’s university profile, CV, byline or congressional testimony is the law professor’s other job: he is a director of the Global Economics Group, a consulting business that boasts in a brochure that its experts have been hired by industry to influence the CFPB and other regulatory agencies. Nor does Zywicki advertise Global’s client list, which includes some of the biggest names in the financial industry, among them Visa, Bank of America and Citigroup.

Last summer, Zywicki’s firm was retained for $500 an hour on behalf of Morgan Drexen, a debt-relief company accused by the CFPB of deceiving consumers and charging illegal upfront fees. None of these potential conflicts of interest, however, have been disclosed during the course of Zywicki’s anti-CFPB advocacy in the media or in government.

After the financial industry lost the battle to defeat Dodd-Frank, it moved quickly to...

<snip>

More: http://www.thenation.com/article/176809/scholars-who-shill-wall-street#

[MannyGoldstein]

1. Sunlight is the best disinfectan!

Thanks Willy!

[WillyT]

3. Anytime...

[Cali_Democrat]

13. The CFPB

Creating by Obama who first appointed Warren to the CFPB...she was blocked by GOPers.

[MannyGoldstein]

14. Warren was only named to temporarily head CFPB, and

the GOP was never given the opportunity to block her.

[Cali_Democrat]

15. She was a special consultant in charge of implementation

But it was obvious the GOPers would never let her nomination for director go through.

The CFPB, created under third way Obama. Third way Obama chooses Warren as special consultant.

Too easy.

[MannyGoldstein]

16. And fortunately, after Obama kicked her out of DC,

the man named to head the CFPB was approved by Congress right away. Indeed, it worked well.

LOL.

My ass is kicked. Ouch.

[Cali_Democrat]

17. How did Obama kick her out of DC?

[MannyGoldstein]

18. Sorry. After Obama kicked her out of the White House... nt

the man nominated to actually head the CFPB... I forget. Was he approved in a week? A month?

[Cali_Democrat]

19. Hahahahaha

Poor Elizabeth....evil third way Obama kicked her out of the White House.

[MannyGoldstein]

20. I guess you don't want to answer that question.

I apologize; I hope it didn't cause undue heartburn.

[WillyT]

22. Um... No...

Larry Summers Helped Torpedo Elizabeth Warren CFPB Nomination
The Huffington Post | By Zach Carter
Posted: 08/07/2013 1:51 pm EDT | Updated: 08/08/2013 1:16 am EDT

Link: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/07/larry-summers-elizabeth-warren_n_3720533.html

[Cali_Democrat]

23. Bzzzzzzt....WRONG

GOPers vowed to block it.

Sorry, Willy.

I don't do revisionist history.

BTW, what are your thoughts on Warren voting yay for the latest massive defense budget?

[WillyT]

24. "GOPers vowed to block it." And The President And Democratic Party Folded...

Is That What You're Saying ???

Because it sure appeared that way.

The Corporatist Republicans and Democrats did not want EW at the head of the CFPB.

Period.

OTOH... I wonder how they liked the way it worked out?

[Cali_Democrat]

25. There was no filibuster reform at the time, genius

The nomination would have been blocked.

What part of that don't you understand?

[WillyT]

26. I DON'T BELIEVE...

That That Was The Reason!!!

The fact that Larry Summers, an Obama appointee, was willing to sabotage her promotion to that position is enough for me.

It is COWARDICE... in confronting CORPORATISM...

And there is way too much evidence of that.

You can enable if you want to... I refuse.

[Enthusiast]

27. +1 a whole bunch.......nt

[Electric Monk]

2. Lots of people would argue that water is dry for $500 an hour. They'd take their time, too. nt

[WowSeriously]

4. Well, in solid form it essentially is dry.

[philly_bob]

5. Zywicki was with the FTC for a while.

Did one egregious thing -- early in the new Bush term, supported bankruptcy "reform" that made it harder for consumers. Introduced "evidence" that few bankruptcies were caused by medical crises, most were due to spending on luxuries by consumers. How's that data standing up, Todd?

Did one kinda-good thing -- supported relaxing the rule against sale of wine by out-of-state distillerie.

Generally, your typical Libertarian ideologist and tool of the big corporations. Right, like a stopped clock, once a day.

[DeSwiss]

6. If the barrel is rotten......

...you know the apples inside it are too. All of them. It is in the nature of greed to spread its ill-effects, like all cancers and corruptions do.

- We keep trying to ''fix the rotten apples'' but we keep leaving the barrel just as it is......

K&R

[cantbeserious]

7. Kick And Recommend

eom

[truedelphi]

8. The people who put together the documentary "Inside Job" also

Disparaged the fact that so many academics are on the payroll of the Big Wall Street Firms. Students are taught in their college years that Globalization is inevitable and desirable, that killing off the Middle Class is not something to worry about, and that ethics means "You are okay as long as you are not caught."

[starroute]

9. Why look at his second job? -- the first is bad enough

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercatus_Center

The Mercatus Center at George Mason University (GMU) in the United States is a non-profit American market-oriented research, education, and outreach think tank. It works with policy experts, lobbyists, and government officials to connect academic learning and real-world practice. The Mercatus Center takes its name from the Latin word meaning "markets", and reflects the Center's free market-based approach to solving public policy problems.

The Mercatus Center was founded by Rich Fink as the Center for the Study of Market Processes at Rutgers University. After the Koch family provided more than thirty million dollars[2] to George Mason University, the Center moved to George Mason in the mid-1980s before assuming its current name in 1999. The Mercatus Center is a 501(c)3 non-profit and does not receive support from George Mason University or any federal, state or local government, but rather is entirely funded through donations, including some from companies like Koch Industries and ExxonMobil, individual donors and foundations. As of 2011, the Center shows that 58% of its funding comes from foundations, 40% from individuals, and 2% from businesses. . . .

Washington Post columnist Al Kamen has described Mercatus as a "staunchly anti-regulatory center funded largely by Koch Industries Inc." Rob Stein, the Democratic strategist, has called it "ground zero for deregulation policy in Washington.” The Wall Street Journal has called the Mercatus Center "the most important think tank you've never heard of."

[okaawhatever]

21. George Mason University is a breeding ground for neo-cons and as your post points out, heavily

funded by Koch Bros and his type.

[Enthusiast]

28. Plus one! Thanks for sharing that............nt

[SoapBox]

10. Educated my ass...

He may be a "professor" and all that but...add money and it corrupts like the sun rises.

Great post.

[JackRiddler]

11. My, what goes uncovered when everyone...

is being inundated with talk of "Duck Dynasty."

[WillyT]

12. Yep...

[Enthusiast]

29. Recommended 1000X and kicked too.