consumer financial protection

    Senate Banking chairman Chris Dodd is circulating his new compromise plan for a consumer financial regulator.  The New York Times and Wall Street Journal both summarized the proposal last night, but here is a copy of Dodd's still-rough outline.  

      As compromises go, it could be worse.   It drops the idea of a stand-alone agency that would be devoted entirely to consumer financial regulation, a cornerstone of the White House financial overhaul and of the House-passed bill.  Instead, it would create a "Bureau of Financial Protection" within the Treasury.  Its director would be selected by the President, rather than the Treasury secretary, and it would have its own budget.