|
Rep.
Richardson's May 4, 2007 Update
The Legislature’s Sanctimonious and Hypocritical War Against Short Term LendersDuring the Legislature’s 2006 Special Session SB 1105 was passed. Its goal was to rein in high interest loan abuses by Pay Loan companies. It spoke in terms of astronomical annual interest rates for loans that generally got families by until their next pay day.While there is no question that some people keep borrowing and get themselves thoroughly “upside down”, there is also no question that there are some 500,000 of these loans being made in Oregon every year, and the people using these short-term loan services are making their own choices to do so. I think people would be wise to live within their means and not use high interest loans, but I also believe that the government should not force people to take that advice. That bill passed, and now the subject is again before the Legislature, because SB 1105 did not go far enough. On May 3, 2007 the House passed (over my opposition) House Bill 2871. It was promoted as the Predatory Lending Rate Cap bill and had bipartisan support. I spoke on this bill and suggested we Legislators consider why there is such an increase in the need for short term loans taken out by poor Oregonians. Without looking very far it becomes apparent that the very Legislature that wants to fix the short-term loan problem may have severely contributed to that problem in the first place. I reminded the Legislators that only a decade ago the amount of money spent by Oregonians on the various forms of the Oregon Lottery was a mere fraction of the $12 billion that will be spent on this year’s lottery tickets and games. Wealthy people are not the ones buying lottery tickets and playing lottery games. The vast majority of that $12 billion is coming from the budgets of Oregon’s poorer families. Why does Oregon promote a business that takes $12 billion every year from the pockets of those who can least afford it? Because Oregon receives approximately $600 million in revenues from the $12 billion spent on the lottery. I pointed out the sanctimonious hypocrisy for the Legislature to point its fingers at the short-term loan industry and shout “Unclean” because they earn money on the poor, while the Legislature and the Governor continue to find new and even more enticing games of chance, so that a mere 7% of the billions of dollars wasted on them can come to the State’s coffers. Both the State Lottery and the short – term loan industry are guilty of preying on those who can least afford such losses. (By the way, I also taught my children that gambling, including the lottery, is like holding out money and lighting it with a match.) Sincerely, |
