It is time to carve this government back in size and scope. Then my favorite twist is we have this thing called independent federal agencies. So for example, we have this thing called the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau, CFPB, which was the sort of Elizabeth Warren's personal agency that she gets to control. And it's an independent agency that just gets to run and do whatever it wants. [00:00:17] Right. And if you read the Constitution like there is no such thing as an independent agency, and yet there it is. - What is her agency? - Do whatever she wants. - What does it do, though? - Basically terrorize. Terrorize financial institutions. Prevent fintech. Prevent new competition. [00:00:33] New startups that want to compete with the big banks. Oh, yeah. How so? Just by terrorizing anybody who tries to do anything new in financial services. Terrorizing anyone in these industries. Really? Now, who you just heard from is venture capitalist Marc Andreessen, [00:00:49] who is unfortunately false, falsely accusing the agency known as the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, of terrorizing banks and forcing Conservatives to lose their bank accounts. [00:01:05] And I say falsely stating because everything he just said is false. And, terrorizing banks is is a very generous way of putting it. I would have loved to see the CFPB terrorize banks that engage in predatory behavior against consumers. [00:01:21] But what they do, what the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau does, and this is a government agency that was born out of the 2008 economic collapse. What they do is protect consumers from predatory activity and behavior of major [00:01:38] industries and financial institutions. Now, thanks in part to the lies you just heard from Andreesen, unfortunately, Elon Musk is now threatening to shut down the CFPB, one of the country's most powerful watchdog agencies. I'm going to keep it real. [00:01:54] I have really soured on government agencies in recent years, because I don't see them carrying out the best interests of the American people, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, though, is not an example of that. It's one of the few government agencies that is specifically tasked [00:02:11] to look out for ordinary Americans. Now we'll come back to Elon Musk and his threats. But first, here's more from Andreesen. Banking is when you, as either a person or your company, are literally kicked out of the banking system like they. - Did to Kanye. - Exactly like they did to Kanye. [00:02:27] My my partner, Ben's father has been debunked. Really? We had an employee. Who for what? We. For having the wrong politics for for saying unacceptable things. Under current banking regulations. Okay, here's a great here's a great thing. Under current banking regulations, after all the reforms of the last 20 years, there's now a category called a politically exposed person or Pep. [00:02:46] And if you are a Pep, you are required by financial regulators to kick them off of your of to kick them out of your bank. - You're not allowed. - What if you're politically on the left? - Well that's fine. - No, because. - They're not politically. - Exposed. So no one on the left gets debanked. Now, I have not heard of a single instance of anybody on the left getting deep. [00:03:02] Can you tell me what the person that you know did what they said that got them debunked. - Oh, well, I mean. - David Horowitz is a right wing. You know, he's pro-Trump. I mean, he's said all kinds of things. You know, he's been very anti Islamic terrorism. He's been very worried about immigration, migration, all these things. And they debunked him for that. Yeah they they debunked him. So you get kicked out. You get kicked out of your bank account. [00:03:18] You get you get kicked out of the you can't do credit card transactions, by the way. You can't. - How is. - That legal? Well, exactly. Well, it's not legal, which is why it's not happening. In fact, the CFPB, to their credit, has actually been fighting [00:03:35] against debunking efforts, especially when it's tied to political ideology. And I'm going to give you the examples in just a minute. But first let's go to Lee Fang, who actually reported on this issue back in August. He wrote, in recent years, activists from both the right and left [00:03:53] have been banned from bank accounts and digital financial platforms over political speech related allegations, with virtually no due process, a phenomenon informally known as the banking. So I read you that excerpt from his August 2024 piece, because Lee Fong [00:04:12] obviously clearly notes that, people from across the political spectrum have been victimized by Debanking. Now, this happened, for instance, to pro-life organizations. This has happened to anti-vax groups, and it has also happened to pro-peace, [00:04:28] pro-Palestinian protesters and activists. So it doesn't matter if you're on the right or left. There have been specific instances of people getting debanked based on their political views, but critically, critically, this is the really important part, guys. [00:04:43] The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has actually fought against that kind of censorious behavior from the banks. So let's go to reporter Jared Facundo, who says, I have no clue what Marc Andreessen is referring to, [00:04:59] because literally just a few months ago, CFPB Director Chopra warned the audience of Wall Street banking conservatives without explanation. So let me reiterate. We are talking about the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau [00:05:17] under Joe Biden's administration, a Democratic administration, and the director of the CFPB during an event said publicly that he basically warned the audience about Wall Street banking conservatives, [00:05:34] meaning CFPB is watching and the debunking efforts based on ideology is wrong, and they're going to come for you. That's what the CFPB does. But you know what else the CFPB does? If the bank is ripping you off they are. [00:05:51] This is the government agency that looks to get your money back. Now Andreessen's only response to that tweet from Jared Facundo was absolutely incredible. And that was it. Okay. What's incredible that he debunked what you were saying on Rogan's show? [00:06:09] Or is it incredible that you were wrong? I don't know. Now, according to Bloomberg, Rohit Chopra, that's the individual that we were talking about earlier, who's the director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, has repeatedly raised concerns about companies denying services and [00:06:28] even pushing or punishing customers based on their politics or political beliefs. Literally the exact opposite of what Andreesen claimed on Joe Rogan's show. And I really hope Joe Rogan, you know, looks into this for himself. You know, it's difficult to do fact checking in real time, especially if the [00:06:47] guest is bringing up a government agency that you might not be so familiar with. But this is a government agency that's really important, guys, and I hope that he looks into it further and clarifies some of the deception that we heard in the video earlier. Now the CFPB, I'm going to give you specific examples. [00:07:05] The CFPB even challenged a Texas federal judge's decision back in September of last year in 2023 to block an anti-discrimination update to the CFPB rules. So the judge's ruling, the decision the judge made would have prevented [00:07:23] the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau from protecting customers who lose access to bank accounts for religious reasons or political reasons. The US Chamber of Commerce, the American Bankers Association and the Consumer Bankers Association all lobbied in favor of blocking [00:07:39] that anti-discrimination update. Because guess what? These financial institutions want to have the ability to debunk anyone they want. So they liked the judge's ruling, but the CFPB didn't, because the CFPB wants to protect consumers, regardless of their political views, and ensure that they are not debanked [00:07:57] based on their political views. There is no dispute across the political spectrum that discrimination based on race, religious belief or other factors is improper. Proper. Okay. The CFPB said in its opening brief before the US Court of Appeals [00:08:13] for the Fifth Circuit. This is the argument that the CFPB made in court. There is a record of it. As a result, the agency said the appeals court should restore a March 2022 update to the CFPB examination manual, [00:08:30] allowing its supervisors to determine discrimination is an unfair practice under the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial regulatory law. They argued that without that power, if the CFPB doesn't have the power, the CFPB would not be able to determine whether customers had been denied bank [00:08:49] accounts or charged higher fees based on, you know, discriminatory activity, or based on a dislike or censorious nature based on someone else's political views. So the CFPB cited the potential debunking of Christians that could [00:09:09] cause substantial injury to victims, but would be unknown without CFPB examiners discovering the conduct. Quote, under the district court's logic. The bureau could not even investigate this intentional religious discrimination [00:09:25] to determine if it's unfair, the CFPB said in its brief. Again, there's a paper. There's a paper trail. And so it's really important for people to know what the facts are, because the worst thing that could happen is that people take what Andreasen [00:09:41] is saying here at face value and egg someone like Elon Musk on in gutting the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. So with that in mind, Mark Andreasen, you know, spreading lies unfortunately seems to have inspired Elon Musk, [00:09:56] who has been tasked with slashing government spending and regulations to write this tweet last night. He writes delete Consumer Financial Protection Bureau there are too many duplicative regulatory agencies. I disagree with that because currently there is no dedicated agency for American [00:10:17] consumers, ordinary Americans other than the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, that is literally a government agency that is dedicated to helping those who have been defrauded, helping those who have been debanked, helping those [00:10:32] who have been victims of, you know, financial institutions who are looking out for their bottom line, even if it means carrying out actions that are illegal or fraudulent. And so I would really love Elon Musk to look into that and understand how important the CFPB really is. [00:10:49] And look, the director, Rohit Chopra, who of course, is the director of the CFPB, recently issued rules meant to shield people from medical debt, make it easier for them to switch banks and limit the fees they face from overdrawing their checking accounts or falling behind on their credit card bills. [00:11:09] So again, I mean, it really does bear repeating this government agency is important, and the fact that it is drawing the ire of Marc Andreessen says more about Andreessen than it does about this government agency. Now, those are protections that are those are protections that are for real people [00:11:27] who have suffered, you know. You know, real predatory behavior in some cases by these financial institutions. And, well, unsurprisingly, it looks like Andreessen's firm has a personal history with the CFPB as well. So I want to give you the details on that. [00:11:43] So in a series of enforcement actions that predate Trump's first term, the agency in 2021 notably shuttered Lend Up, alleging it misled consumers about its short term high rate loans and overcharged military service members. [00:11:58] At the time, the CFPB specifically highlighted that the company was backed by investors including the Andreessen Horowitz venture capital firm. So that's where the ire comes from. Andreessen Andreasen is a Trump donor and is serving as an advisor [00:12:16] to both Elon Musk and Ramaswamy's Department of Government Efficiency. So the threats to effectively shut down the CFPB could be taken seriously, and they should be fought against. Okay, so Brian Hughes, a spokesperson for the Trump transition team, [00:12:33] did not respond to questions about the president elect's views on the CFPB. But he said in a statement that the Musk led Doge would target waste and fraud throughout our massive federal bureaucracy. And even if Trump declines to shut it down entirely. [00:12:50] Here's what The Washington Post is claiming. Privately, Trump's top aides have considered a roster of new candidates to lead the CFPB, who are expected to soften its crackdown on the financial industry now in Trump's first term. [00:13:06] Unfortunately, he did appoint shady figures to lead the CFPB and essentially attempt to dismantle it. I'm happy to report that they failed miserably in attempting to do that. And I say that I'm happy because it's about time we have government agencies [00:13:23] that actually look out for us ordinary Americans who might end up getting screwed over by financial institutions and banks. It's important to, you know, equip your mind with these details and with these facts because, you know, when you're listening to what seems like a super laid back, great interview on Joe [00:13:41] Rogan's podcast with a down to earth guy, if that individual is stinking rich and he's advocating for the dismantling of a of a government agency that's literally named the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, you should question why. [00:13:56] And you should have the real information about what it is about this government agency that someone like Andresen would hate so much. If you enjoyed this video, that's because of our members. They make us independent, they make us strong, and they make us honest. Become a member today by hitting the join button below.