June 17, 2009 In a speech today on changes to the financial
regulatory system, President Barack Obama ’91 proposed the
creation of a new government agency, the Financial Product
Safety Commission, to help consumers obtain financial products
and services without being subjected to predatory or deceptive
financial practices. The proposed watchdog agency is the
brainchild of Harvard Law School Professor Elizabeth Warren. “We
are proposing a new and powerful agency charged with just one
job: looking out for ordinary consumers. This is essential, for
this crisis was not just the result of decisions made by the
mightiest of financial firms; it was also the result of
decisions made by ordinary Americans to open credit cards, take
out home loans, and take on other financial obligations,” said
Obama. Warren, who is currently the chairwoman of the
influential Congressional Oversight Panel (COP) monitoring the
Treasury’s economic rescue plan, conceived the idea of the
commission, which is modeled after the Consumer Prod