In my testimony Wednesday before a House Financial Services subcommittee. I had some harsh criticism for the Federal Reserve Board, which has failed on numerous occasions to use existing authority to protect consumers. Incredibly, on Wednesday, the Fed even opposed a measured, incremental proposal by subcommittee chair Carolyn Maloney to require the federal bank regulators to implement a shared hotline to help consumers. Even the notoriously anti-consumer OCC supported the bill, with what former Fed chairman Alan Greenspan might have even called "exuberance." But it is always tough to beat Financial Services Committee chairman Barney Frank, who had this to say to the Washington Post about the Fed's latest voluntary mortgage reform proposal:

"If I was going to list the top 87 entities in Washington in order of the history of their efforts on consumer protection, the Fed would not make it," Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) said.