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Published:Friday, May 16, 2008
State begs for jobs with one hand, kills ’em with the other
EDITOR:
Have so many years passed that we have forgotten the terrible day that was “Black Monday,” the day when the steel companies announced the closure of so may mills and the day that so many citizens of the Mahoning Valley lost their livelihoods?
Standing against that backdrop, I am shocked, and more importantly as a voter disappointed, that state Reps. Robert Hagan and Ronald Gerberry would essentially visit that same fate on an entire industry in Ohio. I am shocked that they would co-sponsor House Bill 545 which will put more than 6,000 Ohioans out of jobs and cost many small landlords millions of dollars each year in lost rental when the payday loan businesses board up their doors like so many Ohio businesses before them.
We sent these men to the Ohio Legislature to improve Ohio, not to pull the plug on Ohio jobs. Whether the payday loan industry is right or not is something that each Ohioan can decide for him or herself by electing to patronize or not patronize their stores. We do not need our legislators making our personal financial decisions for us; we need our legislators to preserve and create jobs.
Whether you believe that the American economy is in a recession or not, one thing is indisputable: Ohio cannot afford to lose a single job. Ohio cannot afford to see these businesses migrate out of state and leave 6,000 unemployed people in their wake.
The ultimate irony might be that as the Ohio House of Representatives was ram-rodding HB 545 through the House at record speed, Ohio’s Department of Development ran a half-page advertisement in The Wall Street Journal touting Ohio as a business-friendly environment. Seriously, how can the state run such an advertisement on one hand, yet on the other deliver a fatal blow to 6,000 Ohio employees? I venture to guess that if a business contacted the Ohio Department of Development expressing an interest in bringing more than 6,000 jobs to Ohio that the red-carpet would be rolled out and tax incentives thrown at them by the bucket. Yet, apparently our legislators don’t think twice about eliminating jobs.
MARJORIE J. ROMAN
Canfield
Cost of gas is overwhelming
EDITOR:
OK, so I just paid 3.84 a gallon. This is unbelievable and uncalled for. We middle class people are hurting and are working to pay for our gas to get to work. It needs to stop.
This economy is going to go to the bottom of the barrel and fast. The rich are getting richer, the poor are getting poorer and us middle people are hurting.
Someone needs to stop this. And I hope the truckers just stop, because if you think it is bad now just wait until that happens.
SHANNEN KEMMER
Clarion, Pa.
Community
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To those who oppose 545:
The Community Financial Services Association (CFSA) was created in 1999. Their duty is to encourage accountability within the cash advance payday loan industry. They also promote regulations and legislation that provides cash advance payday loan customers with consumer protection. The CFSA also maintains the consumer's access to cash advance payday loans.
Looks great on paper, doesn't it? Except for one thing, the CFSA Board of Directors is in reality comprised of the cash advance payday loan industry leaders. The irony here is this: The Community Financial Services Association's job is to act in the best interest of the consumers who are doing business with cash advance payday loan companies. The CFSA is run by the same cash advance payday loan companies that the consumers are being protected from.
I understand exactly what the 28 percent will do. In this business, your P&L is built around how much you collect in fees. I even completely agree that 391 percent is an inaccurate comparison. However, because it is a lending institution and governed under the FDIC and you have to use the TILA, by law it has to be represented as an APR. I understand that in reality it is $15 per every hundred. The proposed bill may be over the top and harsh. Unfortunately, had the greed of the industry not gotten out of control, it never would have been necessary.
The business model is self-serving. The fact that your P&L is built around the fees that you collect is self-serving. The fact that employee bonuses are directly connected to what you collect in fees is self-serving. The fact that the CFSA parades itself as an advocacy group for the customers of payday loan establishments is self-serving. The fact that the CFSA board of directors is in fact comprised of the payday loan industry leaders is self-serving.
You keep telling yourself that what you are doing is morally right. At minimum, 75 percent of this job is collections because you know upfront that a great many of these people will default on the loan. I do not want to hear about how it is a personal choice. The payday loan industry refuses to police itself. You left the government no choice but to do it for you.
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