A recent Chicago Tribune editorial expresses concern for the future well-being of every financial company -- from payday lenders to big banks -- now that President Barack Obama has appointed Richard Cordray to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

The Tribune worries that a "consumer czar" possesses too much power...

National Stalking Awareness Month just ended (though I'm not sure many of us even knew it had begun), and throughout the last several weeks, in talking to college students, victims' advocates and TV personalities, I've heard one thing over and over: "There's really nothing law enforcement can do...

The Great Recession is far from over. Millions of Americans are without jobs or much hope of finding adequate employment anytime soon. Millions more have lost their homes and a new wave of foreclosures is set to sweep the country.

The sad truth - this epic disaster didn't have to...

In his 1920 novel, The Trial, Franz Kafka provided a dizzying look at the senseless complexity of a bureaucracy that seems to exist primarily to befuddle and punish its constituents. Ninety years ago, Kafka took aim at government. Today, he surely would find equal targets in Chase, Wells Fargo, GMAC...

Ask anyone to name the most serious crimes--rape and murder always top the list. It is impossible to imagine critical evidence in a murder case would not be used to put a murderer behind bars and bring peace and safety to the victim's loved ones and community.

I wish...

Recently, a Chicago newspaper printed an editorial titled, "Sex-offender limits sometimes go too far," that amazingly sought sympathy not for the thousands of children who fall victim to sex crimes each year in Illinois, but rather for a convicted child pornographer.

The assertion was that this man, "Scott," deserves to...

If you were sick and your doctor took obvious measures to make you even sicker, at a minimum you would quickly find a new doctor. Of course, such a doctor -- or most any other professional engaging in clear-cut abuse -- would also face serious sanctions.

Yet, in recent years...

Lavinia Masters was 13 when a rapist broke into her bedroom in the dark of night, put a knife to her throat and threatened to kill her if she reported the crime.

Hours later, undeterred by the threats, Lavinia underwent the painstaking process for collecting DNA evidence, determined...

Record profits. Record bonuses. The party on Wall Street never ends. While the rest of us pick up their tab and suffer the hangover.

For the last seven years I've repeatedly exposed the underbelly of the subprime lending market. Meanwhile, Washington did nothing. Investigating some of the largest subprime...