Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

• Comparable sales in fiscal year 2023 compares sales in fiscal year 2023 to sales in the 53-week period ended February 4, 2023.
• For the first quarter of fiscal 2024 the Company expects:
  Net sales between $277 million and $282 million.
• A conference call to discuss the Company’s fourth quarter and fiscal 2023 results is scheduled for March 28, 2024, at 4:30 p.m.
• Comparable sales in fiscal year 2023 compares sales in fiscal year 2023 to sales in the 53-week period ended February 4, 2023.

• In a democracy, it’s natural to think that “the people” are in charge, or should be.
• Of course, hundreds of millions of people can’t participate actively in governing day to day.
• Still, the idea of representative democracy is that those who make the rules are elected by, and accountable to, everyone else.
• Depending on how the court rules, its decisions could throw vast swaths of the federal government into disarray.

Why professional bureaucracies matter

• In the process, they found they needed to grant significant discretion to experts in bureaucratic agencies.
• Imagine how cumbersome and contentious it would be if, for example, Congress had to pass a new law every time a harmful chemical was identified.
• Instead, elected lawmakers have authorized the EPA to regulate chemicals that its experts determine are harmful.
• It also prevents regulators from becoming politicized and corrupt, as often happens when elected officials have tight control over administrators.

The Supreme Court weighs in

• Over the past two decades, though, it has gained support among mainstream conservatives.
• And with former President Donald Trump’s appointment of justices Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court, it is now taken seriously at the highest levels.
• Many observers expect that the court will sharply cut back agencies’ discretion to interpret federal laws in deciding how to regulate.
• But they could seriously restrict agencies’ ability to do the critical work of governing a complex modern society.

Can regulation be more democratic?

• Today, however, it often manifests as lengthy and expensive lawsuits, which favor wealthier groups.
• What passes for popular participation is a cumbersome process through which members of the public may submit comments about proposed rule changes.
• Depending on the context, citizen juries’ conclusions could be adopted as agencies’ final actions or could trigger further expert review.
• As I see it, this approach is an attractive alternative to the extreme and destructive solutions that could emerge from the Supreme Court.

Samuel Bagg does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

• The Federal Trade Commission will host an online meeting of the Scams Against Older Adults Advisory Group on April 2, 2024.
• The meeting will begin at 2 p.m. Eastern Time with opening remarks by FTC Bureau of Consumer Protection Director Samuel Levine.
• The advisory group was formed because of the Stop Senior Scams Act, passed by Congress in 2022.
• Follow the FTC on social media, read consumer alerts and the business blog, and sign up to get the latest FTC news and alerts.

• "Instead of attempting to set rules through one-off and nontransparent enforcement proceedings or overly broad and unclear guidance, AFSA and its members want the CFPB to use the well-accepted administrative rulemaking process when needed so that all players – consumers, businesses, advocacy groups and policymakers – can provide input," said AFSA President and CEO Bill Himpler.
• Over the past year, the CFPB has launched enforcement actions that cite business practices it alleges are violations, but which are legal under state laws.
• As part of a national education effort, AFSA members are reiterating their industry's long-held Consumer Credit Protections, which the more-than-a-century-old trade group says should help guide the CFPB in its rulemaking process.
• All we're asking is that the CFPB fulfill its responsibility and give us clear rules to follow."