•  Campaign Videos (January 2012) « Obama for America
  

[Music] [Applause]  TEXT: January 4th, 2012

Obama: For way too long we've had a financial system that was stacked against ordinary Americans.  Banks on Wall Street played by different rules than businesses on Main Street.  They played by different rules than a lot of community banks who were doing the right thing across the country.  Hidden fees.  Fine print that led consumers to make financial decisions that they didn't always understand. 

All that risky behavior helped to contribute to the economic crisis that we're all still digging ourselves out of.

            TEXT: As the latest step in his work to reform Wall Street
            President Obama
            Appoints Richard Cordray as director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

Today I'm appointing Richard as America's consumer watchdog.  [applause, cheers]  And that means he is going to be in charge of one thingxxlooking out for the best interests of American consumers, looking out for you.

            TEXT: Republicans in Congress
            Had blocked Cordray's confirmation for months

For almost half a year Republicans in the Senate have blocked Richard's confirmation.  Everyone agrees Richard is more than qualified.  So what's the problem you might ask?  They want to weaken the law; they want to water it down.  That makes no sense.  Does anybody think that the reason we got in such a financial messxxthe worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, the worst economic crisis in a generationxxthat the reason was because of too much oversight of the financial industry?  [Crowd: No]  Of course not.  We shouldn't be weakening oversight, we shouldn't be weakening accountability; we should be strengthening it, especially when it comes to looking out for families like yours.

            TEXT: With Cordray at the helm
            The Bureau will finally be able to perform
            Its full functions

His job will be to protect families like yours from the abuses of the financial industry...

            TEXT: Supervising lenders
            Like those who pushed the subprime loans
            That helped caus the recession

His job will be to make sure that you've got all the information you need to make important financial decisions...

            TEXT: Stopping lenders and credit care companies
            From hiding fees and penalties from you

Right away he'll start working to make sure that millions of Americans are treated fairly by mortgage brokers and payday lenders and debt collectors

            TEXT: And from unfair
            Deceptive
            And abusive practices

Now is the time to do everything we can to protect consumers, prevent financial crises like the one we've been through from every happening again.  That starts with letting Richard do his job.

            TEXT: To learn more about the CFPB visit ConsumerFinance.Gov
            TEXT: To learn more about the President's record visit BarackObama.com

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Notes:

Copyright © 2012 Eric M. Appleman/Democracy in Action.