Why Everything Elizabeth Warren Told You About Consumer Credit Is Wrong

By Todd J. Zywicki and Thomas A. Durkin

Why do people borrow? To hear law professor turned Senator Elizabeth Warren, it is because they are seduced by rapacious lenders and a consumerist culture into living beyond their means, buying big-screen televisions, new cars, and expensive vacations. And before you know it, you are under the thumb of the big banks—or, even worse, of the street corner payday lender.

But as we show in our new book, Consumer Credit and the American Economy, economists have long understood why consumers borrow. Although there are exceptions to any rule, for most it bears little resemblance to Senator Warren’s picture of hapless victims goaded into debt by rapacious credit card issuers. Instead, consumers borrow for essentially the same reasons that businesses borrow: for capital investments and to smooth disruptions in income and expenses. And paternalistic regulations that make credit more expensive and less available typically makes people poorer.

Read the rest here.

The Latest Winter Plan for Occupy Wall Street

Adbusters, the organization that launched 'Occupy Wall Street,' is advising occupiers:

We can accelerate the #OCCUPYHOMES meme by making a concerted push on December 6 and beyond to set up squats in bank-owned, foreclosed homes. In addition, we can facilitate the #OCCUPYMIGRATION of occupiers from hostile to friendly cities. There are, for example, over ninety tents at #OCCUPYBERKELEY even though #OCCUPYOAKLAND's encampment a few miles away has been shut down.

While the corporate-State chases symbolic tents, we can start consolidating and fortifying our outdoor encampments in friendly territory until we are strong enough to resist foreclosure. Meanwhile in cities everywhere, let's quietly set up local indoor Occupy Homes in every neighborhood. Both of these spaces just might become the bases for our Spring Offensive.

This is likely to mean a lot of plotting by those who want to co-opt the movement, and there are many.

The Service Employees International Union, with very close ties to the Obama Administration, has been busing union members from outside Washington D.C. to participate in Occupy protests in the Capitol.

The SEIU is also behind MassUnited, the  groupt known for the "Bobblehead Brown" campaign targeting  Scott Brown of Massachusetts, who Elizabeth Warren is challenging for a Senate seat.

Should be an interesting Spring. Where will the unwashed be directed?

Elizabeth Warren Up By 7 Over Scott Brown

The woman who has never seen a government intervention she doesn't like is now building a significant lead in her bid to unseat Scott Brown from his senate seat from the state of Massachusetts.

Warren leads Brown by a 49-42 percent margin, outside the poll’s margin of error of plus or minus 5.3 percentage points. That number includes voters who say they are "leaning" for either candidate. But even without the "leaners," Warren still leads by a 46-41 percent margin, barely within the margin of error, reports the Boston Herald.

The poll was conducted for UMass-Lowell by Princeton Survey Research from Dec. 1 - Dec. 6.

A UMass-Lowell/Boston Herald poll taken in late September showed Brown ahead by a 41-38 percent margin, so the new poll represents a 10-point swing in Warren’s favor in less than two months.

In the past, Warren has declared that she "created much of the intellectual foundation for what" Occupation Wall Street does.


George Soros hosted a New York fund raiser for Warren.

Elitist Elizabeth Warren Upset Congress Wants Ten Additional Minutes of Testimony from Her

Warren is one elitist cookie. She refused to continue to testify before a congressional subcommittee becasue she had another meeting scheduled

Subcommittee chairman, Rep. Patrick McHenry later slammed Warren in a statement saying she had refused to answer all questions. Two members had no opportunity to question her, before she left.

“Committee staff worked diligently to accommodate Ms. Warren’s schedule," McHenry said.

"I was shocked by Ms. Warren’s blatant sense of entitlement," he added. "She was apparently under the assumption that she could dictate a one-hour time limit for her testimony to Congress and that we were here at her behest instead of the other way around. This is just further example of her disregard for congressional oversight.”

Naturally, the regressives are all over screaming about the "mistreatment" Warren got. I'll be impressed with regressives concerned about mistreatment by congressmen when they speak out against the abusive treatment of Thomas DiLorenzo by Congressman William Lacy Clay, during a subcommittee hearing.

Here's Warren in full elitist posture.

Elizabeth Warren's Push Pin Travels

In yet another profile on  Elizabeth Warren, who is setting up the interventionist federal government's new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, WSJ tells us that Warren tracks herself, the way some people track a season's hurricanes:

A wall map of the U.S. in the new bureau's offices tracks Ms. Warren's methodical campaign with colored push-pins. Each blue pin records an "in-person meeting w/[Elizabeth Warren], while a red pin means a "one-on-one EW call" and a white pin a "group meeting w/EW." The map has 47 pins so far.

As always, she is surprised she was chosen for the interim position and though more profiles appear about her than anyone else in the Obama Administration (including the president), she, golly gee, has no idea how all this happens. WSJ again:

Asked if her campaign among bankers is aimed at improving her chances of being nominated as director, Ms. Warren said, "I am working 14 hours a day to set up this agency. I'm just focused on my job."

Wayne Abernathy explains Warren's push pin schmoozing:

Ms. Warren is making far less progress with the largest banks. Wayne Abernathy, an executive vice president at the American Bankers Association, says, "I've been in some of those meetings. They never get into detail. It's pretty much the same story as 'don't you think we should all get along?' Sign me up for that. But what does that mean?"

Ron Paul: Elizabeth Warren Appointment is Outrageous

Congressman Ron Paul, a senior member of the Financial Services Committee, today issued the following statement criticizing the shadow appointment of Elizabeth Warren to form the new Consumer Financial Protection bureau under the auspices of the Federal Reserve.

This past week the administration announced its choice for the first credit czar at the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. This bureau was created as part of the supposed Wall Street reform bill recently passed by Congress. This new bureau, which represents nothing more than another layer of useless Washington bureaucracy, will be housed within the Federal Reserve - one of the most anti-consumer institutions in Washington.

The appointee named to run the bureau is an Ivy League professor. By her own admission she is an academic, not a businessperson. She has very little real world business experience with the highly complex financial instruments she will oversee. The administration has done nothing to refute her characterization by some in the financial press as an anti-business, ivory tower leftist with an aversion to free market principles.

She also admits to being told, or warned, that the big banks always win in Washington - yet she trumpeted the creation of this new agency as a win against those banks. I would caution her against declaring victory too soon.

Outrageously, she has been appointed as a 'special advisor' to design and lead the bureau, but the administration has not disclosed the exact length of her term. There will be no Senate confirmation hearings, nor will the public or the financial industry be allowed to comment on her appointment. We simply are expected to accept the appointment of an enormously powerful regulator without question, and without regard to the constitutional requirement that the Senate advise and consent with regard to her appointment. This means you, as a voter and citizen, effectively have no say whatsoever for the duration of her appointment. In the meantime, she has unprecedented new powers over private business decisions.

The truth is that this new bureau is just more of the same ineffective and damaging regulation we typically get from a crisis. Just as the FDA serves big pharmaceutical companies, not patients, and just as the SEC serves Wall Street, not investors, this agency will end up serving the banks. All regulatory agencies eventually become co-opted by the industries they regulate, and they become chiefly concerned with restricting the entry of new competitors and protecting market share for the big players. This new bureau is not likely to straighten out Wall Street, so much as it will instill a false sense of security in the public about banking and investing again.

No bureaucrat, no federal agency, and no ivory tower academic can replace the regulatory powers of the free market. 'Caveat emptor' remains the rule for intelligent investors and depositors. Buyers always need to beware, especially when politicians say they have it all under control.

Real reform starts with transparency and an adherence to the rule of law. The administration would do well to adhere to the law, rather than shoving a new economic czar down our throats without congressional involvement. Real reform would mean taking steps toward restoring sound money and getting back to the Constitution. The Constitution does not allow for favors to special interests, or handing out public money to keep private businesses afloat. The Constitution necessitates a small, impartial government that first and foremost, protects liberty, and sees all citizens as equal. It does not recognize a special banking class. The fact that measures to achieve these ends are still quashed tells me that indeed, the banks do still win in Washington.

Elizabeth Warren Phones Jamie

In her first move to "help the consumer", Elizabeth Warren touched base with the power elite. NyPo reports:

Warren phoned a number of banking bosses, including JPMorgan Chase Chief Executive Jamie Dimon, Citigroup boss Vikram Pandit and Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf, in an effort to ease tensions.

"Vikram Pandit and Elizabeth Warren had a good conversation when they spoke on the phone [on Friday]," said a spokeswoman, in a statement to The Post. "Citi is very focused on helping consumers in our country and Vikram looks forward to working with Ms. Warren as she guides the development of this important new agency."

A spokesman at JPMorgan confirmed that Warren caught up with Dimon in Russia, where he is attending a conference. Dimon is said to have described the conversation as a "constructive first move."

First Elizabeth Warren Show is Tuesday

On Tuesday, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner and Elizabeth Warren, Assistant to the President and Special Advisor to the Treasury Secretary, will host a Mortgage Disclosure Forum at the Treasury.

According to the Treasury, this forum will bring together "a broad range of stakeholders and experts to seek their input on the steps that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau  will take to simplify mortgage disclosure forms, so that consumers have the clear and easy-to-understand information they need to make the financial choices that are best for themselves and their families."

Among those invited, according to Treasury:

Consumer advocacy groups, housing counselors, financial literacy experts, mortgage company representatives, and other stakeholders.

Note: Please do not be mislead into thinking the CFPB will be just about simplifying mortgage documentation. You don't need a $400 million dollar annual budget to do that. Further, changing language is about changing terms. Warren was tasked with overseeing TARP and spent a good part of that time analyzing if the banking industry should be nationalized.

Elizabeth Warren: Why I Took the Job [Even though many think I am clueless about finance]

Below is the statement issued by the White House on behalf of Elizabeth Warren. The statement is somewhat choppy, so in brackets I have added to the statement to make it more easily understood.

Over the past several weeks, the president and I have had extensive conversations about the vital importance of consumer financial protection. [The votes that can be bought off by harassing pay day loan offices, alone, and making loans directly to the deadbeats at rates lower than even George Soros can get is quite exciting. The president, and even Michelle despite the fact that demands on  the first lady are pure hell, are excited by all this]

The president asked me, and I enthusiastically agreed, to serve as an Assistant to the President and Special Advisor to the Secretary of the Treasury on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. [In fact, I was so enthusiastic about getting this position that I campaigned for it like no one else ever has for a government agency position. I manged to get myself fawned over in an interview at WaPo. I got my friend Terry O'Neill at the National Organization of Women to blast that dork Geithner as a sexist for opposing my nomination. And I had a rap video put out about myself to soften the attitudes about me, within the rap crowd]   He has also asked me to take on the job to get the new CFPB started -- right now. The president and I are committed to the same vision on CFPB, and I am confident that I will have the tools I need to get the job done. [That is his Kenyan anti-colonial world view and my ivory tower frustrated bitch world view dovetail nicely.]

President Obama understands the importance of leveling the playing field again for families and creating protections that work not just for the wealthy or connected, but for every American [Face it were both commies and we want to level everything, except the finer things the President and I will need to relieve the stress of leveling the playing field for everyone else]. The new consumer bureau is based on a pretty simple idea [banks should just give away everything] : People ought to be able to read their credit card and mortgage contracts and know the deal [is how I am going to promote my entire takeover of the consumer financial sector]. They shouldn't learn about an unfair rule or practice only when it bites them [Never mind that Obama and I used every loophole and stretch of legalese necessary to get me this position through backdoor advisory positions at Treasury and with the President--- taking advantage of loopholes and legalese is only for me and the president, not bankers] -- way too late for them to do anything about it. The new law creates a chance to put a tough cop on the beat and provide real accountability and oversight of the consumer credit market. [That is, I'm going to be a real bitch and I have headline making regulations planned. The media will love me.] The time for hiding tricks and traps in the fine print is over [The tricks will be all mine. You ain't seen nothing yet, the rap video and the WaPo interview were nothing]. This new bureau is based on the simple idea that if the playing field is level and families can see what's going on, they will have better tools to make better choices. [Although there won't be much left after I'm done, to choose from]

If the CFPB can succeed at leveling the playing field, we can go a long way toward repairing a gaping hole in the budgets of millions of families. But nobody has ever thought or argued that the consumer bureau can fix everything. Lost jobs, stagnant incomes, rising costs for college, dwindling retirement savings -- there's a lot of work to be done. [And I plan to stick my nose wherever I can]

[Here's a bit of homespun nonsense to keep the masses from paying attention to what I am really doing, which is consolidating power for the government over the entire financial sector]

When she was 16, my grandmother, Hannie Reed, drove a wagon in the Oklahoma land rush. Her mother had died, so she was up front with her little brothers and sisters bouncing around in the back. When I was growing up, she talked about life on the prairie, about marrying my grandfather and making a living building one-room schoolhouses, about getting wiped out in the Great Depression. She was hit with hard challenges throughout her life, but the moral of her stories was always the same: she would solve her problems one at a time by pulling up her socks and getting to work. [That's why I, whenever I can, still wear socks]

It's time for all of us to pull up our socks and get to work [but please don't use your minds and think any of this out. Gotta go, I have commissioned a top artist to do my official CFPB portrait. I'm thinking long term and I hope we can cooperate with other agencies so, yes, I will allow this portrait to be used on any future stamp the USPS may decide to issue of my likeness. ]

The Financially Clueless Sheriff and Her Rappers Are About to Hit Town

It's Pretty Damn Official: Warren Is at the Controls

Here's the latest from WSJ on Elizabeth Warren:

President Barack Obama this week will appoint Elizabeth Warren to a lead role setting up the new Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection, two Democratic officials said, a move that will allow the White House to avoid a messy Senate fight over her role.

Ms. Warren, currently a professor at Harvard Law School, will be named an assistant to the president and special advisor to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner in charge of launching the new agency and setting its mission. She was a candidate to be the agency's first director, a position that remains unfilled, but would likely have had trouble securing confirmation because of opposition in the Senate.

The White House's decision to seek a middle ground could appease its liberal base, which has loudly championed her candidacy, but will irk Republicans, who oppose her leading the agency and have already charged the administration with making an end-run around the Senate confirmation process...

Ms. Warren's powers will be broad, despite her unusual title. She will recruit staff for the agency, set the policy mission and serve as the recognizable public face for a new agency the administration wants to promote. The bureau has powers to write and enforce credit card and mortgage rules against a range of financial companies, with powers to examine big lenders like Bank of America Corp. and J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.


The administration is expected to eventually nominate someone to be the first director of this agency, but that process could take several months...

Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd (D., Conn.) earlier this week said it would be a mistake for the White House to put her in an interim role without having her nominated for Senate scrutiny.


Liberal groups have spent months demanding Ms. Warren be appointed to run the new agency, even producing a rap video calling her for nomination. The White House has at times appeared torn, given that Ms. Warren is beloved by the left but considered politically toxic with business groups. ..

People familiar with the matter say Treasury officials have had a hard time recruiting top officials because of uncertainty over who would run the bureau. Some prospective employees have forwarded their resumes directly to Ms. Warren, people familiar with the recruitment process said.

Note: If you are a little confused why this is going through Treasury, here's what is going on:

The Dodd-Frank Bill which created the CFPB has a provision in it that allows the Treasury Secretary to run the bureau until an official head is confirmed by the Senate. Such an allowance to the Treasury Secretary would also slide down to any Deputy Secretary, or in this case Special Advisor to Geithner, Warren.

Noteworthy is that she is also being named, according to WSJ, as an assistant to the President. This appears as a Warren end run around Geithner. Most certainly Geithner would throw any obstacle he could to slow and obstruct Warren, but the Treasury Secretary connection has to be made because of the requirements of the Dodd-Frank Bill. The adviser to the President bit gives her the ability to ignore Geithner and go directly to the President.

Warren is very media savvy. After an initial focus on the Obama end run around Senate approval, she will have MSM eating out of the palm of her hand.

She has an annual $400 million budget. But she will not spend one penny of it to learn basic economics, of which she is clueless. She already knows where she wants to march consumer finance  and she will eventually destroy consumer finance and try to stretch the definition of consumer finance to include as much of what is going on around the planet as she can.

HOT: Warren to Be Appointed

WSJ is reporting

• Democratic official: White House to appoint consumer advocate Elizabeth Warren to Treasury Department position

Question of the Day: How Will Obama Sneak Elizabeth Warren In to Head the CFPB?

The latest gossip, according to American Banker, is that President Obama may name Elizabeth Warren "interim" director of the Dodd-Frank Bill created Consumer Finance Protection Bureau.

"Interim" in this case means, Warren has nowhere near the votes to pass Senate confirmation and Obama doesn't have the balls to name her a recess appointment, so he is going with "interim".

Warren as an interim appointment would not surprise those around the President who view him as a very stubborn passive aggressive. He wants Warren, will stick it to the Senate and passively get what he wants.

WSJ is ranking Warren as "interim" director as an "outside possibility" and appears to lean towards thinking she could be a recess appointment.

Regardless of how she gets in to head the CFPB, if she, indeed, does, consumer banking will be in for a major shock and likely end up a mere skeleton of what it is today. All reports I'm getting on her from top players on Wall Street to Congressional insiders is that she is a combination of stubborn and clueless about finance. Mix in the fact that liberal MSM loves her and that she will have a budget of $400 million and you have to brace yourself for some really nutty schemes from the CFPB if she ends up running the joint. Remember both John Sununu and Paul Atkins resigned as members of Warren's TARP oversight body. I'm hearing that they resigned because she ran TARP as her private fiefdom not willing to consider any views other than her own and blocking out other members as to what she was doing. Obviously, we should expect the same if she gets the CFPB gig.

Obama on Elizabeth Warren

At today's press conference, when asked about Elizabeth Warren, according to NYT, the President in his:

...response to Hans Nichols of Bloomberg,....confirms that he has interviewed Elizabeth Warren, the scourge of Wall Street and the hero of the political left, to possibly head the new consumer protection agency created by the new financial regulation law, and seems to hint that he may appoint her but stops short of an announcement.


“She’s a dear friend of mine,” he says. “She’s somebody I’ve known since I was in law school. I have been in conversations with her. She is a tremendous advocate for this idea.” He adds: “I’ll have an announcement soon.”

Elizabeth Warren Makes Another White House Visit

Elizabeth Warren met with President Barack Obama at the White House Tuesday, adding to speculation she could be named to head the new consumer protection agency, the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau, reports HuffPo.


Warren also met with senior administration officials last month.

There is justifiable fear on Wall Street that Warren will be named by the President to the head the CFPB. I have heard across the board (from the highest levels of Wall Street to D.C. insiders) concern about Warren. She is viewed as extremely headstrong, unwilling to compromise, and at the same time clueless about finance.

A recess appointment by Obama is feared.

WSJ on Elizabeth Warren's Inside Track

WSJ's Damian Paletta writes:

White House advisor Valerie Jarrett is playing a central role in the Obama administration’s deliberations over whom to pick to run the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection, two people familiar with the matter said.

Jarrett’s involvement could bode well for Harvard Law School professor Elizabeth Warren, considered a top candidate for the potential job. Jarrett and Warren have met multiple times in the last year and are considered to be close.

They lunched together on July 21, the day President Barack Obama signed the financial-overhaul bill into law. They met again at the White House a few weeks later, along with David Axelrod, another White House advisor.

Warren, Jarrett, and Axelrod also met in January on the day before the White House announced its plans to push for stricter curbs on banks.

An administration official didn’t dispute Jarrett’s role, but said she was part of a team of officials engaged in the search.

“The process is being run by a combination of senior advisors including Valerie Jarrett and [White House senior advisor Pete Rouse and key members of the economic team Larry Summers and Tim Geithner,” the official said.

A Federal Reserve employee told me that most of the worker bees that will be working at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau have already been ID'd from similar agencies already within the Fed. "She won't have that much impact outside the guidelines of her mandate."

I told him that to me she looks like a one woman wrecking crew that has no idea what guidelines mean. I mentioned that she somehow managed to study and include in a TARP oversight role the topic of nationalizing the banking system. He told me that it was her duty to look at extremes. I asked if what she was doing is looking at extremes, and not just looking at nationalizing the banking system, why didn't she look at the other extreme, free banking.

He didn't reply, then told me she is real smart. I replied, "That's the worst kind of interventionist."

Latest Hit on Geithner Comes From Newly Formed "Union of the Unemployed"

The activity coming out of the left continues to intensify, with a distinct focus on harassing Treasury Secretary Geithner. Admittedly, Geithner is bought and paid for by Wall Street, but the timing of the latest attacks on him from the left suggest they are more of the co-ordinated attacks led by Elizabeth Warren operatives. They need to neutralize Geithner, who is strongly against Warren being nominated to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

The latest attack comes from an outfit known as UCubed.

UCubed issued a Press Release stating:

This week’s sharp rise in new unemployment claims as further proof that the nation can no longer afford the economic stewardship of U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner...In September of 2009, Geithner told ABC News’s Diane Sawyer: “A year from now, growth will be stronger. Unemployment will be lower. It will be easier to find a job. Incomes will be growing more rapidly. People will be able to be more confident in the value of their savings. They’ll be more likely to put their kids through college.”

“Geithner was delusional then and he’s even worse now,” said [Rick] Sloan [Acting Executive Director of UCubed], who noted that just three weeks ago, Geithner declared the American economy was “on a firmer foundation for future growth.”

“If you’re feeling a sinking sensation in the pit of your stomach, it’s because Geithner’s ‘firmer foundation’ was laid on quicksand,” claimed Sloan. “Jobs are the bedrock of any sustained recovery. And we won’t see impressive job growth until Geithner resigns.”

Curiously, UCubed ignores the tremendous number of new regulations encouraged by President Obama, in the form of ObamaCare and the Dodd-Frank Financial "Reform" Bill, that make it difficult for businesses to understand what their cost structures will be and their regulatory responsibilities will be. Thus, making it extremely dangerous for businesses to take on new employees. UCubed also completely ignores the role of the Federal Reserve in causing unemployment via their money manipulations.

All focus, as far as UCubed is concerned, should be on the anti-Elizabeth Warren official, Geithner, who in his role as Treasury Secretary probably has as much direct influence on unemployment as Bob Murphy.

According to Labor Talk:

UCubed is the brain-child of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM), whose leaders feel that the millions of unemployed workers need a union of their own to join in the struggle for massive jobs programs.

If a call for "massive jobs programs" doesn't clue you in that this is a group in favor of, well, massive government intervention to create make work jobs for likely new union members, then a look at the recent tweets coming from the group may be enlightening. Starting with a bizarre, obvious distorted tweet about Rand Paul:

Rand Paul: Easing Unemployment Means More Drug Use
----
Fund the Damn Jobs: Deficit Fear-mongering Only Helps the Rich
----
DC Politicians Beware:Voters Want the Employment Crisis Fixed-If You Mess with Social Security or Deficits, You're Toast
----
Americans Know A Tier V Unemployment Extension is Necessary – Why Can’t Congress Get It?
----
Hindery echoes UCubed call for Geithner exit
----
Majority wants tax cuts eliminated for wealthy, extended for others

NOW Prez Charges Geithner a Wall St Influenced Sexist

First they threw Simon Johnson at Geithner.

Then we had the WaPo luv fest interview of Elizabeth Warren.

Followed by  a pro-Warren rap video.

Now, the pro-Warren forces are back attacking Geithner. This time as a supposed sexist pig.

The National Organization of Women president Terry O'Neill, in an interview with NyPo, said, "As an outsider, I think he's a man with such deep ties to Wall Street that I don't know how the sexism of that industry hasn't imbued his Treasury."

"Treasury is a notoriously sexist and misogynist industry and the good old boys don't like..[Warren]," the NOW president said. "It's the testosterone-fueled attitude that drove our economy off a cliff, and yet the president has advisers that are from that industry."

I have no idea what Geithner's views are on women [Neither does O'Neill], but I can assure you this has nothing to do with Geithner's views on women. Notice O'Neill has been silent about the ever increasing number of women charging Al Gore with being a pig, and an aggressive naked one at that.

This is all about the Elizabeth Warren machine. The rap video was aimed at the rap crowd and the NOW attack is aimed at NOW followers. They are trying to build a groundswell of support for Warren. It's as sophisticated as it is ugly.

Elizabeth Warren Supporters Try 'WTF Rap'

I once had to sing a few lines of a rap song to prove to a sista that I knew rap, so I am not against all rap, but this new Elizabeth Warren rap video may cause Hammer and P. Diddy to abandon rap for, maybe, country music. This video is so laughable that even the staid and cautious WSJ managing editor, Alan Murray, said of it, "Elizabeth Warren, The Music Video. Too bizarre to believe."

A group called the Main Street Brigade has released the video. According to their web site:

 The Main Street Brigade is a rapid response team, nationwide, that can be activated to protect our communities against just this kind of devastation.

Right now, we are ALL vulnerable to the big banks, CEOs and Wall Street institutions whose irresponsibility and risky behavior caused this economic crisis. Our vulnerability is being increased by the fact that when our government proposes an agency with sound measures to protect our interests, the arsonists are pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into lobbying and advertising to prevent that protection from being implemented.

Today, our work is to support the formation of the Consumer Financial Protection act, and protect our families and communities.

As we go forward, their will be other actions we can do.

This "spontaneous" support for Warren means there is serious money behind her.Remember, just this weekend WaPo posted a luv fest interview with her. Heavy duty players can only get this kind of stuff done. My guess it is union money. I shudder to think what demographic they are trying to reach to build support for Warren.

If you haven't had your chuckle for the day, here it is.

The Elizabeth Warren Promotion Show Continues

WaPo is running a Beth Marlowe interview with Elizabeth Warren. It's obviously part of the campaign to get Warren name recognition and favorables among the populous so she can be named head of the new Consumer Finance Protection Bureau.

In the interview, the media savvy Warren says she doesn't like Washington and isn't a Washington type person. But every indication is she does like to dictate. During the height of the financial crisis, as head of the TARP oversight committee, she went way beyond want most saw as the designated task of the committee and came out with a report that included nationalizing the banking system as one sensible option.

Given her lack of basic economic understanding, the stubborn Warren at the CFPB would result in destruction of entire sectors of the financial industry.