Why Elizabeth Warren Will Benefit Wall Street

Outside of the fact that Warren is entirely unqualified for her job and is a partisan activist, she's a fantastic choice. Warren is an academic and a lawyer, not a business person. She has never worked in the industry she intends to regulate. One more theoretician from Harvard...how did the others work out thus far? Ahem.

Warren would be unlikely to receive confirmation from the senate despite the Democrats working majority. This made it necessary for the backdoor appointment (but since when has rule of law, even for vague legislation like this, encumbered the Obama Administration?). But this is just more evidence, she's a poor choice.

Look, I get the populist outrage but when a regulator is going to tell you that cannot have a product you deem right for you and/or the supply of credit diminishes and/or the free products you have received for years now come with fees, please keep in mind that neither the outrage nor the regulation it begets is costless. Warren, your better, will now decide what is best for you.

Finally, can we either define the term "Wall Street" or stop using it? Wall Street use to refer to investment not commercial banks. Lumping them all together creates the confusion that led in part to FinReg (the law just created a massive bureaucracy with unprecedented power including the right to access your records at any time without warrant Mr. Consumer). Different animals.

Back to the author's thesis...he's wrong. Commercial banks have and will continue to invest hundreds of millions in financial education and product simplification as part of a reputation management initiative. The industry does not need Warren to rehabilitate its image (investment banks don't much care about any of this which is why the author needs to start by explaining his definition of Wall Street).

I could go on but allow me this parting thought. Government creates a housing credit bubble by manipulating a $10 trillion market, redirecting over $4 trillion of credit (590 FICOs denied credit cards could borrow 300K for a house) to favored constituencies and the result is that Government gets more power, not less. Warren, your better, will now decide what's right for you even as Fannie and Freddie continue to rack up losses and Govco contemplates Community Reinvestment Act the Sequel. Ironic no?

Tony H of NC 3:37PM September 17, 2010