Mar 09, 2010

"The fate of the proposed consumer protection agency remains the biggest question mark in the proposed overhaul of the finance industry, The New York Times’s Andrew Ross Sorkin writes in his latest DealBook column.

The Obama administration first proposed the idea of an independent watchdog for consumers to safeguard the citizenry from predatory lenders and fine print.

Now, Mr. Sorkin writes, Congress needs to decide if the consumer protection agency should have true independence — in effect, its own street address — as many Democrats believe it should, so that it has real power to act on its own? Or should it be given the equivalent of a room in the basement of the Fed, next to the janitor’s closet — as the bankers themselves and many Republicans would prefer?"

Click to go to the New York Times website and view the entire column.