CFPB

Following up on my previous post on Elizabeth Warren, I think it's fair to state that the "silenced" Senator is violently against the exorbitant salaries paid to corporate big wigs and is a very strong in her concern about income inequality. It surprising then, to learn that an agency she and the previous president created in 2011—the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB)—pays its many employees exorbitant salaries. Conveniently, Warren worked to place the CFPB within the Federal Reserve Bank, so that normal limits on government (read: taxpayer-funded) salaries don't apply. How convenient.

Consider the following, researched by Richard Pollock:

The Senate majority and minority leaders are paid $193,000 annually. Two hundred and one CFPB employees outdo Sens. Mitch McConnell and Charles Schumer in pay.

Speaker of the House Paul Ryan of Wisconsin receives $223,000 per year, but that’s less than what 54 CFPB employees are paid.

Another 170 CFPB employees earn more than the secretaries of defense and state, the attorney general and the director of national intelligence. All cabinet salaries are capped at $199,700, but not at the bureau. Thirty-nine CFPB employees earn more than the $230,000 paid to Vice President Mike Pence.

A total of 198 CFPB employees also earn more than their ultimate boss, Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellin, who is paid $201,700.

Overall, 449 CFPB employees get at least $100,000 per year and 228 CFPB are paid more than $200,000, according to publicly available 2016 data.

This is a classic example of why zip codes in the Washington, DC suburbs exhibit some of the highest per capita income in the country. Oh ... by the way ... 100 percent of the political donations made by employees of the CFPB went to Democrats. No surprise there.

But there's a larger question. Exactly what real benefit does the average taxpayer derive from the CFPB? Even more important, does the work performed by CFPB employees justify salaries in the $100,000 to over $200,000 range? Funny that Senator Warren is oddly quiet on these questions. I suppose she's far too busy "persisting." My view is that we should all #LetLizSpeak on this issue. It would be illuminating for sure.