The curious case of the CFPB
April 13, 2012

(MoneyWatch) COMMENTARY Throughout the brief, turbulent history of the federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, critics have sought to characterize it as a threat to the banking industry, a rogue government snoop intent on strangling lenders with red tape. The regulatory agency represented nothing less than a "government takeover of the economy," warned Rep. Spencer Bachus, R.-Ala., in 2010 even before the new watchdog officially opened its doors last July.

So far, the banking industry is doing okay. Banks such as JPMorgan Chase (JPM) and Wells Fargo (WFC), which both announced large earnings increases Friday, are raking in profits. In one

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