'Republicans are feckless': Comments of the week

Another reader weighs in on the Senate's vote to scrap the CFPB's auto lending guidance:

"The problem that the Bureau had and unsuccessfully struggled with is that it had no proof of illegal discrimination. Because the law prohibits lenders from taking notice of race, ethnicity, gender, and so forth, the Bureau had to manufacture data that did not exist regarding the race, ethnicity, gender, etc., of the borrowers. Its efforts are an excellent study in how an agency can be arbitrary and capricious."

Related: Senate votes to block CFPB auto lending guidance

On Paul Ryan vowing to "repeal and replace" Dodd-Frank this year:

"A Republican controlled Congress repeal and replace anything? Please! Look what happened with Obamacare. Ryan said that because he knew that's what Repbublican voters want to hear, but the fact is, the Republicans are feckless. And after the 2018 mid-terms, their fecklessness will be moot. It's sad to see a party come into power that is so unwilling to wield it. A mistake? Or do they do it on purpose?"

Related: Congress won't repeal Dodd-Frank. Why does Paul Ryan say it will?

On community banks employing technology to handle new accounts in place of opening additional branches:

"Every relatively large bank in the country hopes community banks buy into the 'we don't need branches anymore' idea. In most cases, the physical branches and bankers in these communities are the ONLY thing that convinces customers to choose a community bank over big banks with superior digital products. You really think community banks are going to win a technology race with the big banks? Good luck with that."

Related: Who needs branches? More small banks open accounts online

On dampened expectations that last year's tax law is spurring loan growth:

"Sweeping tax cuts not true tax reform. The last tax reform was in 1986, since then it has nothing but cuts. Most predicted this. You do not cut taxes when there is virtually full employment. There is no way to grow. We are limited by our population and number of skilled workers, a tax cut will not change that. With a ballooning deficit we will see higher inflation and interest rates though, building up over time."

Related: Banks were told tax reform would spur lending. They’re still waiting

On consumer groups fighting the Senate's plan to overturn the CFPB's auto lending guidance:

"This was the prior administration's way of going after auto dealers. If Congress wanted auto dealers to be regulated by the CFPB, it would have added them to the DFA. This 'guidance' was used to do an end around the DFA. Hopefully good riddance."

Related: Consumer groups oppose Senate repeal of CFPB auto lending rules

On an argument that the Minneapolis Fed should consider Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in its "too big to fail" proposal:

"I don't think anyone disagrees that Fannie and Freddie are 'too big to fail', along with numerous other financial institutions in today's world. The question is, how to fix that problem? I propose re-institution of the Glass-Steagall (sp?) Act, and enforcement of the Sherman Anti-Trust Act. Allow no single company to control more than 5% of its market. Break Fannie and Freddie into 50 pieces each. Expect a lot of resistance from the 'globalists'."

Related: Minneapolis Fed's TBTF plan has some GSE-sized holes