I do not normally intend on spending a lot of time explicitly endorsing candidates or issues but this one is important in my estimation. There has been a barrage of slick and costly advertising on Ohio TVs and newspapers over the last couple of months trying to convince Ohioans to vote against issue 5. They would have you believe that the issue would kill thousands of "good paying" Ohio jobs, restrict personal freedom, and threaten your personal information. It almost seems as if those with the campaign against this issue would wrap it up in any lie or associate it with anything and everything bad under the sun as long as they could persuade you to vote no. For those of you who don't know, Issue 5 is a referendum on the ballot that would approve legislation that has already passed in Ohio's General Assembly with strong bipartisan support. The legislation that Issue 5 backs puts a cap on the amount of excessive interest that payday lenders can charge at 28% (down from as high as 391%!). So guess who is behind all of this advertising against Issue 5? THE PAYDAY LENDERS! Voting for Issue 5 would not destroy the payday lending industry in Ohio as most of them have already applied for the a state licenses to operate under the new law's 28% APR cap. Of course they would still earn a profit under the new law.
Voting for Issue 5 is an important step in helping troubled consumers avoid the cycle of exploitative debt that many payday borrowers find themselves in too late. Earlier in their campaign, the payday lenders ran a TV ad with a farmer (actually an actor) explaining how he occasionally uses payday loans for his farming business and that Issue 5 would somehow hurt him. The ad was ridiculous. Among those who support Issue 5 is The Ohio Farm Bureau (along with the AARP, Habitat for Humanity, the Ohio Roundtable and the Coalition on Homelessness and Housing in Ohio). Issue 5 has broad support among statewide and local politicians, clergy, nonprofits, and the business community. Voting for Issue 5 is the right thing to do. Now is the time to stand up and stop lenders from gouging the poor before we let it get too far just like predatory sub prime mortgage lending.
2 comments:
We all have issues- the problem for me is in keeping them straight! I remember that farmer ad- like farmers go get a quickie loan to pay for a new tractor. Most campaign ads come across as untruthful- these guys make it a joke- except it isn't funny.
Thank you for helping clarify this for me. I WAS right in my thinking--this solidifies it.
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