Cato Institute Vice President and Director of the Center for Monetary and Financial Alternatives Norbert Michel has written a new piece titled “Consumers Will Be Safe without the CFPB.”

It makes sense to reevaluate whether the CFPB is necessary to protect consumers, Michel says. He points out that, focusing just on financial markets, the United States has twelve separate federal financial regulators and state regulators for securities, banking, and insurance companies.

Michel writes: “Congress created the CFPB without a thorough understanding of the housing market collapse, the subsequent failure of major financial firms, or the resulting shock to the economy. They did it without debating the meaning of consumer protection, much less whether the existing consumer protection laws and agencies were flawed. Congress can fix that mistake by eliminating the CFPB and either restoring the pre-Dodd-Frank enforcement authority or consolidating those laws at the FTC.”

You can read the full piece here. If you would like to speak with Michel, please contact pr@​cato.​org to set up an interview.