'Delete CFPB': Elon Musk declares war on key regulatory agency

28 November 2024

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) came into existence when President Barack Obama signed into law the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010. One of the most aggressive proponents of the agency was now-Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), an Obama adviser who argued that aggressive regulation of Wall Street was badly needed in light of the financial crash of September 2008.

In 2010, the United States was still in a deep recession. The Great Recession was the country's worst financial crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930s, with the national unemployment rate averaging 9.6 percent that year (according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics).

During its 14-year history, the CFPB has had both defenders and detractors. Some conservatives and libertarians claim that the regulatory agency hobbles the markets; Warren, however, has maintained that the CFPB is a safeguard against devastating financial events like the crashes of 1929 and 2008.

In late 2024, the CFPB has a major foe in billionaire Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, SpaceX and X (formerly Twitter). President-elect Donald Trump has picked Musk, along with MAGA businessman Vivek Ramaswamy, to head a proposed government agency that would be called the U.S. Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

On November 27, Musk tweeted, "Delete CFPB. There are too many duplicative regulatory agencies."

Forbes' Derek Saul reports, "Musk's post was in response to a recent podcast clip from Marc Andreessen, billionaire venture capitalist and fellow multimillion-dollar Trump donor, who said the CFPB's primary purpose is to 'terrorize financial institutions.' Yahoo Finance reporter Jordan Weissmann notes the CFPB shut down a portfolio company of Andreessen’s firm a16z in 2021."

The CFPB has also been a target of far-right Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation's highly controversial 920-page blueprint for a second Trump Administration. Project 2025 has called for Congress to abolish the agency.

But Warren remains an outspoken defender of the CFPB, recently telling the Washington Post, "The CFPB is here to stay…. There's big talk, but the laws supporting the CFPB are strong."

Read Forbes' full article at this link.

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