Archives : 2011 : December

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Asks for More

The new federal agencies are costing a bloody fortune; so to speak, that’s only “half of it.” Last month, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau released a notice for a request for comments on private student loans and lenders to be published in the Federal Register. This is part of the CFPB and Department of Education gathering of information on private student loans and related services.
The inquiry likely will focus on such basic issues as use of loans, loan solicitation processes, and repayment terms.
I should say that all of this shows that the newly formed regulatory bodies formed since Dodd-Frank do not have a requisite understanding of the activities they are to regulate.
Remember back to when Elizabeth Warren requested more than $300 million in her first budget. There was scant justification, a superficial swag at any potential benefit from spending so much money, and little credible argument to justify such an outrageous budget request.
Now the agency is set off on an expedition to duplicate the knowledge certainly resident at Sallie Mae – and known by them for years.
In addition to direct costs, the new regulators are consuming time and resources from the regulated constituencies. This is a painful example of how It cost much more to regulate than is made known to taxpayers. This is no way to run a business.

Misuse, Mis-conception

I have to admit it. I have become very impatient with the bastardization of concepts that comes with popularization. So many terms commonly used by managers have a history and a deeper meaning than is known when they are batted about at corporate conference tables.
Think of paradigm, tipping (inflection) point, disruptive technology, strategy.
And now cloud computing. Sometime in their history, these concepts had profound and specific meanings.
Casual and undisciplined use has obliterated their fundamental attributes and their original intent.
Between you and me, it’s the misuse of the word “strategy” that irritates me the most. Let me leave this argument by saying that daily managing and strategy are not synonymous. Public relations firms, can you hear me?