Free the Economy podcast: Consumer finance and privacy with James Erwin
In this week’s episode we talk about the decline of electric vehicles, liberation for home appliances, the failure of tariffs to deliver new jobs, and the rise of climate realism. Our guest this week is James Erwin, Director of Innovation Policy at Americans for Tax Reform. We talk about consumer finance, bank regulators, Elizabeth Warren’s view of the world, and when the government is allowed to violate your privacy. You can watch the video version of our conversation here.
More recent material on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), forced data sharing under Section 1033, and banking regulation:
- “CFPB must withdraw open banking rule to protect innovation and consumer choice,” blog post by Ian Agulto (10/23/25)
- “Comments urging withdrawal of Chopra CFPB open banking mandate,” regulatory comment letter by John Berlau (10/21/25)
- “CEI joins a coalition in Protecting Consumer Data: Why the CFPB Must Abandon Biden’s Flawed Open Banking Rule,” coalition letter by John Berlau (10/9/25)
Recent episodes:
- Free the Economy Episode 152: The Business of America with Neil Bradley
- Free the Economy Episode 151: Balancing the Budget with Kurt Couchman
- Free the Economy Episode 150: Sesquicentennial Celebration
- Free the Economy Episode 149: Charting Tariff Madness with Joey Politano
- Free the Economy Episode 148: Truth, Lies, and Economics with Jeremy Horpedahl
- Free the Economy Episode 147: Our Nuclear Tomorrow with Craig Piercy
- Free the Economy Episode 146: Obamacare Problems with Jeremy Nighohossian
- Free the Economy Episode 145: Energy Diversity and Abundance with Stephen Perkins
- Free the Economy Episode 144: Celebrating Human Achievement with Ed Hudgins
- Free the Economy Episode 143: Reforming Social Security with Romina Boccia
Join us next week when our guest will be with Marlo Lewis, senior fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute. We’ll talk about climate policy and the controversy over the Environmental Protection Agency’s “endangerment finding” on greenhouse gases and public health.