John Gravois Sits Down with Reid Cramer to Discuss the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

As Justin King mentioned earlier this week, John Gravois, Editor of the Washington Monthly, has a great in-depth piece out in this month’s issue looking at the rise of the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The full article is well-worth checking out, but if you’re more of an auditory learner, watch this interview Reid Cramer did with Gravois here at New America.

In the interview, Gravois highlights how the priorities of bankers and regulators were fundamentally mismatched with the needs of consumers, and explains how lax regulation gave rise to predatory and subprime lending on a grand scale that ultimately threatened the whole economy. In this light, he views the CFPB as “Too Important to Fail” (hence the article’s title). Ultimately, this agency will be working in a multi-faceted ways (he notes that the CFPB is staffed up with lawyers, economists, and social scientists alike) to reshape the financial services and regulatory market.

He argues that because the financial services market is so ubiquitous and important in day to day life, making the industry less opaque, more responsive to consumers, and ultimately more competitive will have a profound impact on the average American household.

While Gravois won’t be able to join the conversation, join us tomorrow morning at 9:15 either in person or online via live webcast for a first-hand look at some of the other pieces in the issue along with commentary from the authors. You can find us tweeting away @AssetsNAF with the hashtag #jobsarenotenough.