President Donald Trump, Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) have been systematically exposing MASSIVE government waste, fraud and abuse.
Along the way, Team DOGE has identified for eradication LOTS of spending. And bureaucrat jobs. And the eradication of (thus far) several of the 500+ Executive Branch bureaucracies (we actually have no idea how many there actually are).
Which precipitated yet another idiotic objection:
“Musk and DOGE don’t have the power to cut spending or jobs or close bureaucracies!”
If Musk-DOGE don’t the power? This idiotic objection should keep the bureaucracies, jobs and spending alive - for an additional three seconds. Because President Trump is the Chief Executive of the Executive Branch. And he certainly has the power. Per the Constitution.
So Musk-DOGE can text the President with their recommended bureaucracy and spending cuts. And then the President cuts them. Working, of course, with the respective Secretaries he has appointed to oversee the respective bureaucracies. Idiotic objection overcome.
One of the bureaucracies so closed was the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). Or so we thought. Because the allegedly dead regulatory body is shambling on - zombie style.
Trump-Musk-DOGE closed the CFPB on or about February 10th. This CFPB alleged “rule-making process” was open for “public comment” until April 1st.
We know how stupid and fraudulent the bureaucracy “rule-making processes” and “comment periods” are. But this one has an added layer of stupidity and fraudulence, given that it is being conducted by a dead agency.
If DC uses the Gregorian calendar like the rest of us? The CFPB took comments on this awful rule - for almost two months after it was permanently closed. And from all appearances is even now continuing its zombie work on the awful rule.
Let’s check in with our old friend Merriam Webster….
Insurrection: “an act or instance of revolting against civil authority or an established government.”
The Chief Executive of the Executive Branch has declared the CFPB closed. He’s the civil authority of the established government. Yet the CFPB shambles on. That’s a full-on insurrection.
For the record: Let’s detail why the zombie CFPB’s zombie regulations are awful.
On January 13, 2025 - i.e. AFTER having just been repudiated by We the People at the polls - the Biden Administration slammed through the aforementioned monster, monstrous regulations, which attempt to to establish Regulation AA, banning certain terms in consumer financial contracts.
For starters, Congress has already denied the CFPB the authority to do this. Via a Congressional Review Act (CRA) override passed in November 2017. The CFPB no longer has the legal authority. At all.
Get all that? Congress has already rescinded the CFPB’s authority. And the now-zombie agency is trying to revive it yet again anyway. This is undead DC being redundant even with its redundancies.
Of course, like with just about everything the CFPB does? It is awful for the economy.
The government dictating terms in private sector contracts is never, ever a good idea. First: Because duh. And second: Because playing Mother May I with the government isn’t exactly a time-sensitive way to react to an ever-changing private sector.
And did we mention this is being proposed by a dead bureaucracy?
This idiocy could easily ban lawful arbitration phrases and clauses. Because no one will know what the government’s regulatory language actually means. (Including the government’s bureaucrats.) So, in doubt, the private sector will leave it out. Over and over and over again.
And it could dramatically minimize the use of arbitration, for fear of the CFPB’s deathly grip on the proceedings. Which would be awful. Because arbitration is a far more rapid, more effective and less-lawyer-soaked dispute resolution venue.
Because when folks stop arbitrating? They start litigating. And that isn't good for anyone (except for, of course, the lawyers).
And did we mention this is being proposed by a dead bureaucracy?
And, of course, more government means less private sector. Because the private sector will be wasting more time complying with government. And guessing blindly what government wants. And less time expanding the private sector.
And did we mention this is being proposed by a dead bureaucracy? To then be imposed by a dead bureaucracy?
It’s all so very DC.
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