Jonathon Trugman

Jonathon Trugman

Business

This guy’s done more for the economy than Janet Yellen has

Last week Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas) did more for the US economy then Fed Chair Janet Yellen could ever do.

Hensarling, the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, came out with an alternative to Dodd-Frank that actually is not punitive to the economy.

Hensarling’s proposal calls for any bank that wants to exit the Dodd-Frank chokehold to bring its capital level up to 10 percent, which is higher than Dodd-Frank’s requirement, but once met allows the bank to get back to lending that would enable the economy to grow.

Have you ever wondered what happened to the mortgage market? Why good, honest, hardworking people can’t get a mortgage?

Answer: Dodd-Frank.

After all, what good is a low-rate loan if nobody can qualify?

Dodd-Frank destroyed the consumer’s access to capital as well as the small business’.

Hensarling pointed out some chilling facts during an interview on Thursday.

Roughly “20 percent of the people who qualified for a mortgage in 2010 will no longer qualify,” Hensarling said.

There are “15 percent fewer credit-card offerings, and they cost on average 2 percent more,” Hensarling added.

There is no win for Main Street in Dodd-Frank as it stands.

Nobody can convince me that making it harder for responsible Americans with good credit to get a mortgage is good for the economy.

There is no way that making credit cards less available and driving up rates through overregulation is good for Main Street.

The banks’ borrowing costs are under 0.5 percent today, and yet the average credit card interest rate in America runs between 14 percent and 24 percent.

It’s all because Dodd-Frank has contorted the law into a mallet to punish the banks.

Cheers to Hensarling for standing up for typical Main Street Americans and promoting growth for the US economy.