If you haven’t heard of Elizabeth Warren, listen up, she’s shaping the world we’re living in by creating the consumer protection standards that help to keep us (consumers) well-informed and safe. And she’s under fire from the GOP. Why?
Warren has long advocated for the creation of a new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which was established by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act signed into law by President Barack Obama last July. Since then she has come under strong criticism from Republicans, ostensibly for over-stepping a legal boundary by advising state attorneys. As Paul Krugman notes in the New York Times: “the accusations made no sense…. everyone knew that the real purpose of the attack on Ms. Warren was to ensure that neither she nor anyone with similar views ends up actually protecting consumers.” This is where we come in.
As financial reform and budget cuts are tossed back and forth between Democrats and Republicans we (consumers and citizens) have to keep up the heat and keep up the questioning. We need to ask who’s instituting consumer protection standards and what they look like. We need to know who defines “organic” and “natural” and why and when some information is so hard to come by (hint: there’s always a reason).
Want to read more? Here’s Paul Krugman’s original article at the New York Times.
Hello,
I’m a Canadian & don’t know too much about this – but do know this much – Ms. Warren should be commended!
Will learn more about this issue!
Best,
Jane Nelson
Montreal
Dear Elizabeth,
Please know that you have my support. I am the CEO of my own Woman-Owned Small Business that represents one of the newest truly green cleaning technologies on the market today. One struggle that we have is that the typical American household has been buried in a lot of false advertising by the big corporations (i.e P&G, Johnson &Johnson, etc.) about their “new” “green” formulations, none of which are truly green and sustainable. Until we can change the definition of “green” – natural, safe, non-toxic chemicals that actually clean in a sustainable way (not just mobilize the contaminants), we will continue to fill our waste water treatment facilities and creeks with pollutants, and surround our homes in a chemical soup.
Thanks for all you are doing.