In economic news, President Obama is expected to propose today the creation of an independent and powerful Consumer Financial Product Safety Commission to regulate financial products such as mortgages and credit cards. The McClatchy Newspapers reports that as part of the proposal, the Federal Reserve and other bank regulators would lose their oversight over mortgages, credit cards and other financial products that are sold to consumers. At the same time, Obama is proposing expanding the Fed’s role as the regulator of the nation’s largest banks, such as JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs, to include other giant financial firms, such as the insurance companies AIG and MetLife.