Here's what I can say about Carly Fiorina's performance in tonight's debate: She was, for the most part, a study in quiet psychotic behavior. The only times she ramped up the volume were the times that she would nearly shout the words "We need to take our country (and/or government) back again!"
Other than that, she was just psycho, in her unique psycho way. This moment, more even than her Obamacare claim, was about as crazy as I've ever seen her.
The topic under discussion was the big banks, and whether they should be broken up. That is a topic for a separate post, which will be forthcoming. Governor Kasich and Senator Cruz had given their somewhat populist answer (an irony in itself, given their ties to Wall Street), and Fiorina broke in.
Hey! Over here! Look at meeeeee.
Her comments were just unhinged argle-bargle.
FIORINA: Can I just -- could I just say, as a chief executive who's had to make tough calls to save jobs and to grow jobs, I think what's interesting about Dodd-Frank is it's a great example of how socialism starts.
Socialism starts when government creates a problem, and then government steps in to solve the problem. Government created the problem.
(APPLAUSE)
Government created the problem of a real estate boom. How did we create it? Under Republican and Democrats alike, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, everybody gathered together, Republicans and Democrats, and said, "home ownership is part of the American dream. Let's create a bubble," and then government stepped in -- by the way, under president George W. Bush, banks were told -- encouraged -- told, really -- to buy other banks, to take money.
And now what do we have with Dodd-Frank? The classic of crony capitalism. The big have gotten bigger, 1,590 community banks have gone out of business, and on top of all that, we've created something called the Consumer Financial Production Bureau, a vast bureaucracy with no congressional oversight that's digging through hundreds of millions of your credit records to detect fraud.
This is how socialism starts, ladies and gentlemen. We must take our government back.
And Carly, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Kochs, and Wall Street thank you so very much for that claim, which was received by the audience with thunderous applause.
Yes, that's right, Carly claims a watchdog agency that stands up for ordinary consumers like you and me is SOCIALISM.
Why is it socialism? Because it benefits consumers. A recent fact sheet outlining the CFPB's shining successes explains further. Here are 10 wins for ordinary folks:
- Enforcement actions have already returned more than $10 billion to consumers.
- Rules prohibit mortgage loans that borrowers can't afford to repay and take action against exhorbitant fees and abusive payment structures.
- Stands up for borrowers and families struggling with student loans.
- CFPB has documented widespread abuses in the payday lending industry and working on rules to prohibit abusive trap lending.
- Working to ensure fair and equal access to auto loans.
- Making sure costs are clear and people's rights protected when they send money overseas.
- Shutting down "last dollar" scams that charge up-front fees for help that never gets delivered.
- Put rules in place to help borrowers get mortgage modifications to save homes from foreclosure.
- Protecting consumers in 'dead-end markets' like credit reporting and debt collection.
- Developed a consumer complaint system and public complaint database that are getting results. I can testify to that one. They helped me when no one else could.
None of these things smack of socialism. They do, however, point to consumer protection, which is what that agency is supposed to do.
I eagerly await Senator Elizabeth Warren's rebuttal.
