This Woman Terrifies Wall Street Bankers

The lady in the picture above is Elizabeth Warren. She is the person who was most responsible for creating the new government Consumer Protection Bureau (part of the Wall Street reform bill) -- designed to protect ordinary Americans from being taken advantage of by the giant Wall Street banks and other financial service industries. President Obama wanted to put her in charge of that new bureau, because he knew she would never give in to Wall Street in her efforts to protect consumers.

But the Republicans weren't having any of that. In a naked attempt to protect their Wall Street buddies, they blocked her appointment -- and they made it clear they would never allow her to be confirmed. That turned out to be a huge mistake, because she withdrew her name and returned to her home state of Massachusetts -- where she entered the race for the senate seat held by Republican Scott Brown (the same seat once held by Ted Kennedy). Wall Street poured millions of dollars into Massachusetts in an effort to defeat her, but she handily won that race on November 6th.

Now she is a United States Senator. When she takes the oath of office as the newly elected Congress convenes in January, she will be more powerful than ever. And guess what Senate Committee the Democrats are thinking of putting her on. That's right -- the Senate Banking Committee. That would be a nightmare for the giant Wall Street banks, because Warren understand the way the financial industry operates and knows all the loopholes they use to commit their nefarious deeds against the consumers -- and she would be in a perfect position to plug those loopholes and insure the consumer gets an even break.

As you might expect, this terrifies Wall Street. The last thing they want is someone who knows their tricks and is too honest to be bought off to be in a position of power. Last week the Wall Street lobbyists did their best to try and block her appointment to the Banking Committee, but it became very clear that Democratic leaders weren't listening (probably because Wall Street spent hundreds of millions of dollars to defeat President Obama and other Democrats in the election).

So this week those lobbyists are trying a different tack. They are talking her up for appointment to the Senate Finance Committee -- and even more prestigious committee and one new senators are almost never put on. But Wall Street would rather have her anywhere but on the Banking Committee, where she could interfere with their playing fast and loose with the rules and with consumer money.

I know the Finance Committee is a plum assignment, but I really hope Warren and the Democratic leaders see through this attempt by Wall Street to control appointments. Warren should be put on the Banking Committee -- because that is where she could do the most good for American citizens. If that wasn't true, then Wall Street wouldn't be so scared of her going to that committee.