The Czar Presidency

Obama is looking at creating another czar, or a small flock of them, to harass the financial services industry under the guise of consumer protection. In March he told Jay Leno:

"When you buy a toaster, if it explodes in your face, there's a law that says, 'Your toasters need to be safe,' " Obama said. "When you get a credit card or you get a mortgage, there's no law on the books that says, 'If that explodes in your face, financially, somehow you're going to be protected.' "

How will he define the difference between a defective appliance and a defective mortgage or credit card, exactly? Will it have anything to do with the consumer running up too much debt or getting a mortgage too big for their family income?

A bill proposed by Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., would create a five-person, presidentially-appointed commission to look at consumer protection issues in mortgages and credit cards. It gives the commission the power to ban abusive, unfair and "anti-consumer" practices and "restrict" financial products and practices that cross the anti-consumer line.

Which leaves open for politicians to determine what the "anti-consumer line" is. But there's already such an entity out there offering consumer protection free of charge and he can be heard every day across most of the nation on radio--Dave Ramsey. By the way, wonder when Obama will begin cracking down on "we tote the note" car lots or shyster lawyers?

For a person who complained about Dick Cheney wanting to expand the executive power of the presidency (mainly to fight terrorism) this is beyond hypocritical.