Consumer Financial Protection Bureau - Waste And Abuse

By LD Jackson
8/22/12

Political Realities:

This isn’t the first time I have written about the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau or waste and abuse in the federal government. I have opined on more than one occasion that the powers given to the CFPB were suspect. This is especially true since their funding doesn’t even have to go through Congress. With a funding setup like that, one can’t help but wonder who will watch the CFPB, while they are supposedly watching out for the American taxpayer. This is, however, the first time the CFPB and waste and abuse have been tied together. They are getting off to a good start, acting like so many other federal agencies, spending our money like there is no tomorrow.

(Human Events) Breaking news: the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau wastes piles of taxpayer money on ludicrous nonsense, just like every other organ of our bloated government.

Judicial Watch has been auditing the CFPB’s finances. Among the “questionable expenses” they have discovered are $479,354 for sign language translation services, $4,500 to send top attorneys to a “banking law fundamentals” class, and starting salaries as high as $173,000 per year.

The agency told CNN it needed the sign-language services, which apparently cover just two “entry level employees,” in order to comply with the Americans With Disabilities Act. Supposedly they have pre-paid for these services, and will receive a refund of unused sign-language interpreter time at the end of the year. Judicial Watch noted that the expenses paid thus far included $1,185 to cover gas mileage for the interpreter – which, to be fair, is not hard to believe in Barack Obama’s economy.

The continuing-education courses on banking law don’t seem that outrageous… until one reflects that highly compensated attorneys hired for the top ranks of a massive consumer protection agency really shouldn’t need that kind of remedial education. One enforcement attorney is quoted from an email saying, “This looks like an awesome agenda for a banking world novice like me.”

As for the soaring salaries of CFPB officials, Rep. Ann Marie Buerkle (R-NY) observed in congressional hearings that starting salaries at the agency exceeded Office of Personnel Management standards by up to 90 percent. Judicial Watch adds that “a dozen new hires take home more than $225,000 a year, while a student intern was paid $51,620 ‘through completion of education & study.’”

As easy as these kinds of posts are to write, given the amount of waste and abuse taking place at our expense, they are getting a little old. $479,354 for sign language services? Does anyone really believe it takes that much money to educate two employees on how to use sign language? I am so tired of hearing stories like this. Do the people who are in charge of the CFPB believe they can spend our money, however they want, with no repercussions?

The sad thing is, the repercussions may be almost nonexistent. The CFPB gets their funding through the Federal Reserve, with no real oversight from Congress. That being the case, how do we stop these examples of waste and abuse in our federal government from happening again and again? One thing I do know, it isn’t through increased revenues. The funding needs to be cut off, ie. spending reduced, in a drastic way. I understand the examples of waste and abuse at the CFPB are but a drop in the bucket that is the federal government. How many other drops are in the bucket?

And we wonder why our nation is going broke? We have only to look at Washington to understand why.