As we noted yesterday, even as they go full- bore obstruction on Russiagate, the regime of un- indicted co- conspirator Donald "Rump" Trump is busy whittling away at the functions of government intended to protect people and advance the common good. With every day, it seems a new outrage comes to light; this is today's:
The Trump administration has stripped enforcement powers from a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau unit responsible for pursuing discrimination cases, part of a broader effort to reshape an agency it criticized as acting too aggressively.
The move to sharply restrict the responsibilities of the Office of Fair Lending and Equal Opportunity comes about two months after President Trump installed his budget chief, Mick Mulvaney, at the head of the bureau. The office previously used its powers to force payouts in several prominent cases, including settlements from lenders it alleged had systematically charged minorities higher interest rates than they had for whites.The tea party weasel running the CFPB, Mick "Dick" Mulvaney, also wants to make sure that a certain clientele (no, not the public!) is served:
... Mulvaney has also dropped a lawsuit against payday lenders and said the agency will reconsider rules the financial industry complained would be particularly onerous. He also updated the bureau’s mission statement to include addressing “outdated, unnecessary, or unduly burdensome regulations.”As with most things so rotten they reek, you need only to "follow the money" to see why that clientele gets a break from the meanies at CFPB (click on image to enlarge):
(Source: www.opensecrets.org)
Note above that the CFPB was established in 2010 following the financial crisis, after which the payday lender industry shifted it's political donations almost exclusively to Republicans. So, now their loan has now been paid back with interest.
