Wall Street regulator replaced by Wall Street conciliator

He’s being replaced by Timothy Massad, who appears to be more of an industry lapdog than a watchdog. Massad, a career insider, has been a corporate lawyer for banks, a lickspittle lieutenant for Treasury Secretary Timmy Geithner (an infamous Wall Street softie), and a blocker of tough provisions to stop big banks from unfairly squeezing hard-hit homeowners.

Apparently, Gensler wanted to keep doing his work at this once-obscure agency – staying on guard against financial connivers trying to twist the rules to legalize banker robbery. But Wall Streeters certainly didn’t want him there, and Obama bowed to them, displacing the one guy, the one regulatory chief, who had the guts and gumption to stand up to coddled bankers.

Not only is Gensler gone, but Wall Street gets a regulator who’s being entrusted to return the agency to obscurity. What a disgrace.

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This piece was first published on Jim Hightower’s website.