Bob Corker Sellout

BigGovernment reported The Bob Corker (R-TN) Bailout Sellout [emphasis added]:

Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) has snatched defeat from the jaws of victory with his complete capitulation and total surrender on the Financial Services bill. The bill, passed by the House with a $4 trillion bailout provision, making bailouts the permanent policy of the United States government, was on it’s last legs until Corker came to the rescue. Now the Washington Post and other are reporting that Corker and ethically-challenged, retiring Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT) are on the verge of a deal to breathe life back into the regulatory and bailout scheme.

It looks like some Republicans still haven't learned that "too big to fail" is exactly two words too long. We need to build a country where every business is a small business, where the creative destruction of the market place is a tolerable difficulty that spawns new innovation, and where the politically powerful can no longer aggregate the public's money in the coffers of their future campaign contributors.

Update: Now ABC is reporting that George Soros is endorsing a new "consumer" protection agency:

"We need a consumer protection agency, and we need it very urgently because there is political outcry about the injustice of the current situation," [George] Soros said at a Roosevelt Institute conference in New York.

Senate Banking Committee Christopher Dodd has been trying to bridge a gap with Republicans, who oppose an independent consumer protection agency, and discussed with Republican Senator Bob Corker the possibility of making the agency a division of the Federal Reserve.

"The bureaucracy is expanding to support the expanding bureaucracy," as someone once said. Let's review the agencies charged with oversight of our financial institutions:

1. Congress (House and Senate)
2. US Treasury
3. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC)
4. Federal Reserve ("The Fed")
5. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC)
6. Security and Exchange Commission (SEC)
7. Bureau of the Public Debt (I bet they're busy these days!)
8. Community Development Financial Institution Fund (CDFI)
9. Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN)
10. Federal Inspectors General
11. Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS)
12. National Credit Union Administration (NCUA)
13. Housing and Urban Development (HUD)
14. Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity (FHEO)
15. Federal Housing Administration (FHA)
16. Fannie Mae
17. Freddie Mac
18. Ginnie Mae

These bureaucracies exist to absorb blame from the political class—#1 on the list above. A "consumer protection agency" would be no different. To better understand this general problem, read the Practical Rule of Bureaucracies.