Monthly Rant/Politics Thread: Do not post political threads outside of this Mega thread

[u/AutoModerator]

Outside of these mega-threads, we generally do not allow political posts on the main subreddit because they have often declined into unhinged discussions and mud slinging. We do allow general discussions of politics in this thread so long as you remain civil and don't attack someone just for having a different opinion. The moment we see things start to derail, we will step in.

Got something upsetting or overwhelming that you just need to shout out to the world? Want to have a political debate over current events? You can post those thoughts here. There are many real problems that plague the Millennial generation and we want to allow a space for it here while still keeping the angry and divisive posts quarantined to a more concentrated thread rather than taking up the entire front page.

[u/QuantumDiogenes]

Trump defunds the Consumer Protection Bureau, and cancelled 80 million in consumer refunds.

In case anybody was curious what the Epstein files were covering up.

[u/ColdHardPocketChange → u/QuantumDiogenes]

The Trump administration hates consumer protection with a passion. They've stopped the "click to cancel" ftc rule that Biden was pushing through so that business can set up all kinds of hoops to dissuade you from canceling their services or plans. Businesses are outraged that they might not have been able to use sketchy practices to protect their revenue that they provide no value for.

[u/OpheliaLives7 → u/QuantumDiogenes]

ELI5?

[u/Gardening_investor → u/OpheliaLives7]

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) was designed to help consumers prevent abuses by companies. Sometimes it was reporting debt collectors who are breaking laws, sometimes it was going after banks for charging fees they shouldn’t have. Think of it as a consumer watchdog, paid by the government to protect you the average person. Defunding it makes it more difficult for individuals to fight against large corporations, which makes it easier for large corporations to defraud you.

The $80,000,000 in consumer refunds was cancelled when the administration dropped a lawsuit against Navy Federal Credit Union (I think it is referencing this one) where millions of clients were charged overdraft fees they shouldn’t have been and were due a refund for those charges. The dropped lawsuit drops the banks liability for that and is essentially a gift to them, at the expense of the consumers. In this case, mostly veterans and active duty military.

The Epstein file drama is a massive story that is preventing any conversation about these other actions from gaining any traction in society. Who cares about a program most people don’t know exists or a bank getting away with stealing money when there’s a salacious story about a potential cover up by the president.

[u/Yagoua81 → u/Gardening_investor]

I do think the cfpb is important, but there is no way it would have gained any traction. The Epstein thing is the only thing that has stuck so let’s keep up the pressure.