It's a DOGE Invasion
Oligarchs are everywhere we don't want them to be
Elon and the Oligarchs are running amok.
This time, they’re inside the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).
Like a petulant Kylo Ren leading the First Order, Elon seems hellbent on unleashing all the firepower at his disposal. And ostensible Emperor Trump appears unwilling or unable to stop him.
The Administration has already stopped the CFPB from doing its work to protect American consumers:
Just two days after firing the Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), the Trump Administration has ordered the proven consumer champion to stop all work.
An interesting note on Elon’s interest in consumer finance issues:
The unelected Musk recently announced plans for a new payments platform run jointly by Visa and “X” (formerly Twitter). Now, he’s moved his power grab to the CFPB, in a clear attempt to attack union workers and defang the only agency that checks the greed of payment providers, as well as auto lenders like Tesla.
And, well, Visa is facing scrutiny illegal, monopolistic activity:
More than 60% of debit transactions in the U.S. run on Visa’s network.
“We allege that Visa has unlawfully amassed the power to extract fees that far exceed what it could charge in a competitive market,” said Attorney General Merrick B. Garland. “Merchants and banks pass along those costs to consumers, either by raising prices or reducing quality or service. As a result, Visa’s unlawful conduct affects not just the price of one thing – but the price of nearly everything.”
Oh, and under the direction of Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, the CFPB is taking steps to let the empire of oligarchs reign unchecked:
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has agreed to temporarily halt a rule that would ban medical bills from credit reports, giving the banking industry an immediate win under the new leadership of Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.
On Thursday, the CFPB agreed to put the medical debt rule on hold for 90 days and hold off on litigation for three months. The bureau did not oppose a preliminary injunction granted by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas that was filed by two trade groups that sued the CFPB in January. The medical debt rule is on hold until June 15.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent belatedly slipped a protection for Big Tech firms, and in particular Elon Musk’s X, into his order to stop work at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
The secretary is serving as acting director of the CFPB, which since Monday, February 3, has had practically all of its professional activities put on hold. That order to essentially stop working came in an all-hands email from Bessent’s office in his capacity as acting director. It said that no proposed or final rules, formal or informal guidance, enforcement actions or settlements, public communications including research paper releases, or litigation filings and appearances could be conducted, unless Bessent expressly approved them. This stasis would continue indefinitely, pending a review “in order to promote consistency with the goals of the Administration.”
But the next day, an update to that February 3 email went out, adding an additional restriction. The update, according to the email obtained by the Prospect, states that CFPB is “not to initiate supervisory designation proceedings or designate any nondepository institution for supervision.”One tech firm moving toward “larger participant” status in payment apps is X, formerly known as Twitter, which its CEO Musk envisions as an “everything app,” like WeChat in China. X recently signed a deal with Visa to support real-time payments through the X Money Account, which is due to launch later in 2025. Users would be able to make peer-to-peer payments with the account, which would connect to a debit card.
By stalling designation of nondepository institutions, Bessent ensures that X will not be designated for CFPB supervision, at least in the near term.
In short, Elon and his band of raiders aren’t just “accidentally” at the CFPB - they are there with a clear purpose: Allow the richest man on the planet to continue to profit with no checks on his power and no stopping his plunder.
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