A Landslide of One

Crossposted from Left Toon Lane, Bilerico Project & My Left Wing click to enlargeAs of this writing, Clinton gained one delegate from last night but is still behind in the total delegate count. After watching Hillary's speech last night, I found it remarkable that she portrayed it as a landslide night. Four states, millions of votes and a she gained one delegate overall. One.

Was it Bill or Hillary?

Crossposted from Left Toon Lane, Bilerico Project & My Left Wing click to enlargeBill is slick and I mean that as a compliment. He has to be one of the most effective politicians of the 20th century. Even the folks who hate him the most always admit that Bill has uncanny political skills. Bill could take any bad news and turn it into a golden ray of sunshine that you bought into and placed on your mantle - right next to the grandkids. But we often wondered if it was Bill who was the political mastermind or Hillary? Was it really Hillary who was the one moving the Clinton Machine forward, over seemingly insurmountable obstacles? While sitting around the dinner table during the holidays - over the years I have heard it explained that Bill and Hillary are the same. I used to agree with this idea, but no longer. Bill is more akin to Obama in his ability to communicate than Hillary ever will. Bill could take any microphone, at any rally where it was raining, snowing or bitter cold and somehow cheer people up - give them a glimpse to a more perfect future. Hillary not so much. As much as she tries, as much effort as she puts into campaign, I have never had her inspire me to do anything except drop my support for her. Her campaign's tumbledown started almost a year ago in Selma and has failed to move people ever since. Yes, she has her core supporters, but there is a movement afoot and she is not at the middle of it. Obama is. Tomorrow will tell the tale. Texas and Ohio will deliver their results. We will need to wait and see how it all washes out.

More on B.R.E.A.D., Payday Lending, and Ohio Representatives

This is a follow-up to yesterday's post (on another blog) about Doing Justice in Ohio. The following excerpt comes from my church's September newsletter: At that Nehemiah Action Assembly, Senator Ray Miller pledged to introduce legislation in the state house to curb PayDay Lending. You may have seen recent articles in the Columbus Dispatch and elsewhere in which this issue and its abuses have been well documented. Though B.R.E.A.D. is mentioned, it is rarely given the credit for having moved this issue to the forefront. Behind the scenes B.R.E.A.D. has been working with Senator Miller, a Democrat, and Representative Bill Batchelder, a Republican, to sponsor the same legislation in the House and in the Senate. This kind of strong bi-partisan cooperation will benecessary to pass a bill. At the August 24 meeting, B.R.E.A.D. was reminded that it will take phone calls, e-mails, and letter to state lawmakers to get this bill passed. PayDay Lenders have a well funded lobby and have doubled their spending in the legislature since 2006. Be prepared for some requests from your B.R.E.A.D. team to write, call, e-mail those who represent you in the statehouse! About that bipartisan support--that is apparently the reason Ohio House Minority Leader Joyce Beatty has been hesitant to support the legislation. From the Other Paper article I linked yesterday... Several state lawmakers of both parties have agreed to take on the cause. While others surely have their reservations, Beatty is one of the only legislators to openly criticize the effort, brushing off the proposed reforms as shortsighted and politically motivated. Using her influence as the minority leader, Beatty has discouraged Democrats from working with Republican state Rep. Bill Batchelder of Medina, whom advocates have asked to sponsor the legislation in the House. Known as an arch conservative, Batchelder has been against high-interest loan centers dating back to the 1990s, when he opposed legislation that led to the proliferation of payday lending shops. However, Beatty has repeatedly suggested Batchelder is using the issue to advance his aspirations to be speaker of the House next session. “I will not support any legislative agenda that I feel is solely for someone’s political gain,” Beatty wrote in an op-ed column published last month in the Akron Beacon Journal. That’s a problem because legislation will require bipartisan support, and Beatty is known for her ability to keep her caucus in line. “It’s already damaged the prospects for getting the bill passed,” said Miller. “I think we’ve laid out a good strategy, we’re fortunate to have bipartisan leadership on this with Rep. Batchelder and myself,” he added. “At the present time, our biggest challenge is the opposition from Rep. Beatty and her work to encourage members of her caucus to be neutral or opposed.” I have a hard time understanding how a powerful Democrat in the Ohio House would want to delay implementing measures to protect our most vulnerable citizens from predatory lending practices for basically political reasons. Still, she did say I will not support any legislative agenda that I feel is solely for someone’s political gain, and has said that she is willing to hear from her constituents on this matter. Maybe even polite letters from people who are not her constituents, but are able to clearly express why this is not solely for someone's political gain. The bill (I've been searching for a bill number and an official link, and will update if/when I find that) only proposes the same safeguards against predatory lending that military personnel are now granted via the Nelson Talent Amendment. The proposed bill would cap interest rates on short-term loans at 36 percent. Currently, the rate on these loans can reach nearly 400 percent when calculated over a year. The bill also would call for financial incentives and tax credits for traditional lenders to encourage them to offer short-term, low-interest loans. So we're talking about reasonable limits on the interest rates that can be charged, not shutting these places down, as Rep. Beatty seems to suggest here: House Democratic Leader Joyce Beatty, who represents some of the same citizens as Miller, said she has talked to people in line waiting to get payday loans. "People said to me, ‘Rep. Beatty, these folks will at least cash my check.’ One lady told me she couldn’t get her check cashed in any bank in the city," Beatty said. "I have not had anybody call me and say, ‘I go to a payday lending establishment, and I think you should close them down.’ " That quote is from an article that was published on July 23. Hopefully by this point, people have clarified to Representative Beatty that no one associated with this proposed bill is suggesting that payday lending establishments should be shut down Still, since she is in a position to either help or hurt the passage of a bill that could offer even some minimal protection to Ohio's most vulnerable citizens, I think it couldn't hurt to politely help see to it that she does understand what this is really about.

This is the part where we "Do justice"

Also posted at Street Prophets, My Left Wing, and Booman Tribune Many progressive people of faith cite Micah 6:8 as one of their favorite verses of scripture: And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. This is the part where we do justice... Last Tuesday's Columbus Dispatch had an article about the B.R.E.A.D. Assembly I attended on Monday, May 7. It's a pretty decent overview of the meeting, attended by 2000 central Ohioans. My quibble is that the people representing the payday lending industry get the "last word" in the article, but I can counterbalance that by sharing the transcript of the part of the meeting where a B.R.E.A.D. representative answered those claims. After sharing the story of one central Ohio resident who borrowed $500 to help her son in a time of financial hardship and ended up in a cycle of increasing debt, the article by Sherri Williams outlines what B.R.E.A.D. is trying to accomplish with this issue: BREAD wants the state to cap the payday lending rate at an annual rate of 36 percent, the same limit a federal amendment passed last year used to cap interest rates on loans for military families. The number of payday lenders in Ohio has increased from 107 in 1996 to 1,562 in 2006, and Franklin County has the most in the state with 183 such businesses, according to a Policy Matters report released in February. The nonprofit group is a policy-research organization designed to broaden the debate about economic policy in Ohio. Tighter regulation of payday lenders is critical because the average 390 percent annual rate for the short-term loans is excessive, said Carol Roddy, chairwoman of BREAD's research committee on the working poor. State Sen. Ray Miller, who previously introduced legislation to regulate the industry, said the paralyzing poverty of the payday lending cycle affects Ohioans across the state, including in rural areas and suburbs. "We are trying to keep people from a position of financial ruin from going from one check casher to the next to try to pay for the first loan and eventually end up in a financial position" they can't get out of, said Miller, a Democrat from Columbus. Miller, the only state senator at the meeting, proposes an interest-rate cap along with limiting the number of loans a person can have with payday lenders at one time, and developing a statewide database that would track the number of outstanding loans one has with payday lenders. The Dispatch article includes information from their interview with Jamie Frauenberg, president of the Ohio Association of Financial Service Centers, but a lot of that was addressed in the mock interview with the "loan shark", so I'll conclude with my transcript of that. From the article: There were no representatives from the payday-lending industry at the meeting last night. BREAD members had a man dressed in a shark costume with feet hanging from its mouth symbolizing a loan shark for a mock interview. B.R.E.A.D. representative: Now, I don't speak shark, so, have you brought a translator? Good, good. By the way, I see that you're mouth's kind of full there. Working on another customer, eh? (Laughter) Now, can you please tell us why you feel that your industry should *not* have these reasonable regulations in place? Shark: Moneymoneymoneygreedygreedygreedymoneymoneymoney! Interpreter Payday reform is unnecessary overregulation. B.R.E.A.D. representative: This type of reform protects Ohio consumers from abusive practices, and levels the playing field between consumers and lenders. That's the traditional role of covernment, and this is how we expect our legislators to protect their constituents. Shark: Powerpowerpowermoneymoneymoneygreedygreedy! Interpreter Regulation is unnecessary because the industry is designed for occasional users in emergency situations. B.R.E.A.D. representative: Really? The fact is that the industry *traps* borrowers in a cycle of debt. Ninety-nine percent of all users borrow more than once a year. The industry makes over 90% of their fees on people who borrow five times a year or more, and over half of their fees on people who borrow 13 times a year or more. If the industry is making over half of their money on individuals borrowing on an averge of more than once a month, how can you claim that your product is made to serve an occasional need, or pay for an emergency expense? Shark: Moneymoneymoneygreedygreedygreedy--ME ME ME! Interpreter Since the loans are only generally for two weeks, the Annual Percentage Rate, or the APR, is not a valid way to evaluate the cost of payday lending. B.R.E.A.D. representative: Well, I think that the system you represent traps borrowers, by encouraging them to become frequent users. The majority of them use the service many times a year. APR is a fair way to compare the cost of payday loans with the other types of credit. So listen to this example: If you borrow $500 using a credit card, you can pay it off in four months, and it will cost you about $550. To do the same with a payday loan, will cost the borrower up to $1200. Shark: Gimmegimmegimme....! Interpreter Payday lending is the only way for many of these people to get credit. B.R.E.A.D. representative: Do you know that currently, twelve states have banned payday lending, (applause and cheers) and there are other options for these customers to get good credit. Also, we're proposing, like the federal government, to cap the rate at 36% APR. If these businesses are unable to operate at that interest rate, there is something wrong with the business! Shark: Whinewhinewhinecomplaincomplaincomplain...NOOOO! Interpreter If we regulate payday lending, people will go to illegal loan sharks. B.R.E.A.D. representative: Payday lending IS legal loan-sharking. It's just a legalized form of usury. The majority of payday users are law-abiding citizens who would NEVER think of visiting an illegal loan shark. That argument is akin to saying that we shouldn't regulate illegal drugs, because that would send drug users to illegal drug dealers! Many banks, credit unions, faith-based organizations and military organizations offer products that are alternatives to payday lending. Regulating payday lending will level the playing field between this exploitative industry, and instead offer other options that are more beneficial to the customer. So...did you have anything else to say? Shark: Moneymoneymoney...greedygreedygreedy...me? Interpreter I can't repeat that. ................. If you live in Ohio, I hope you will write to your State Senator and let him or her know that you support the proposed legislation. But even if you don't live in Ohio, I encourage you to learn more about the issue of predatory payday lending, and find out what legislation your state has enacted or might be considering.