July 8, 2009
Shocker of the Day: Obama wants to create another agency!

Posted at 1:56 pm, in: Regulation
Tags: Barack Obama, Barney Frank, John Dingell

Apparently, all of the agencies we already have aren’t enough and the Obama administration wants to create the “Consumer Financial Protection Agency” to, once again, save us from ourselves:

A Democratic lawmaker cast doubt on the Obama administration’s plan to create a new consumer-protection agency because it would encroach on the Federal Trade Commission.

“I have significant concerns about these plans,” Rep. John Dingell of Michigan said at a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee hearing Wednesday. Mr. Dingell said the proposed agency would trigger a “de jure and possibly unwarranted” reassignment of the FTC’s authority in the financial-services realm.

Though the House Financial Services Panel has the primary role in drafting legislation to create the new agency, the Energy and Commerce Committee could insert itself into the legislative process, slowing down the bill’s momentum. Energy and Commerce has authority to oversee the FTC. Financial Services Chairman Barney Frank (D., Mass.) wants to move the legislation through his panel this month.

The Consumer Financial Protection Agency would have the power to write rules affecting the financial-services industry, educate consumers on financial matters and conduct research on consumer disclosures and other matters. These are all functions currently performed by the FTC, which has power to bring law-enforcement actions under U.S. law that prohibits unfair and deceptive practices.

First of all, let me give a shout-out to Rep. John Dingell! Admittedly, Dingell’s opposition is not founded on the same reasons as my own, but you know what they say about politics and strange bedfellows. It’s a tad disappointing that it wasn’t a member of the “party for limited government” that spoke out against this first. Then again, what do I expect from the Republicans? They’re all too busy having affairs to speak out about anything.

I don’t know why Congress or Obama thinks that some new agency is going to prevent catastrophes the hundreds (is it thousands?) of other agencies already in existence can’t prevent. That’s the way it goes in our nation’s capital, though. But, I digress.

This agency, if created, like all of the other agencies Congress has created, is an abdication of their responsibility. Hey, Congress, guess what: The Constitution of the United States of America doesn’t give you the authority to designate third party agencies to pass rules and regulations that bind the American people with the same force as new laws. It is Congress’s job to pass laws, and in very limited areas, I might add.

I’m not a child and politicians are not my parents. The last thing this country needs is more faceless, nameless bureaucrats in Washington, DC making our decisions for us. Just give me my freedom back! Admittedly, I’ll make mistakes. I might fall on my butt, but I’ll get back up. I’ll learn from my mistakes and move forward. The government cannot save me; it can only stifle me.