Flooding The Swamp: Trump Admin Lets Corporations off the Hook

A Public Citizen's report revealed Wednesday that President Donald Trump administration does not adequately protect the U.S. population from law-breaking corporations.

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"Trump, who once asserted that he was 'not going to let Wall Street get away with murder,' now is allowing industry after industry to get away with just about anything," Alan Zibel, the "Consumer Carnage" report leading author said, as reported by Common Dreams.

By using information from 'The Violation Tracker' database, which dogwatches cases with enforcement penalties of US$5,000 or more, the consumer-rights defenders investigated into the performance of the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and the Federal Trade Comission (FTC).

As a result of a well-documented reseach, Public Citizens denounced that actions against corporations, which involved fines of US$5,000 or more, fell from 133 cases in President Barack Obama's last two years in office to 84 cases in President Trump’s first two years.

“Under Trump, federal agencies have slashed fines, declined to bring cases against corporate wrongdoers and gutted enforcement programs,” Public Citizen’s report states and concludes that “the result is a government that is eager to throw consumers under the bus, and a stark betrayal of the populism Trump promised as a candidate.”

The "Consumer Carnage" report also unveils that, during Trump’s first two years in office, CFPB's enforcement activity sank by 54 percent; the CPSC completed only 7 enforcement actions; and the FTC's enforcement actions fell 31 percent in comparison to Obama’s final two years.

Stated differently, Trump administration sees controls on corporate actions as “unnecessary and disproportionate costs on businesses.” 

“This hostility to enforcement from federal agency leaders, as well as the shift toward considering regulated industry as partners or customers has had an immediate effect," Public Citizen’s report states and added that "enforcement of consumer-protection regulations against corporations has fallen.”