Is Elizabeth Warren Stepping Into Sharkskin?
The respected Massachusetts senator wants "to turn post offices into loan-sharking bodegas in low income neighborhoods," investigative reporter Greg Palast writes at Reader Supported News.
The respected Massachusetts senator wants to help the poor and and a flagging U.S. Postal Service by turning “post offices into loan-sharking bodegas in low income neighborhoods … giving out short term loans to the desperate poor against their coming paychecks,” investigative reporter Greg Palast writes at Reader Supported News.
Palast explains:
Her intentions are good. She wants to put private payday lenders out of business. These are the predators, centered in poor neighborhoods, who will lend you money for a few days or weeks until your next paycheck. Here’s the catch: you have to sign over your paycheck in advance – and the effective interest runs an average of 391%. No kidding.
But the senator proposes to get rid of these payday predators by turning every post office into a financial fleecing factory.
… Warren’s plan is based on a scheme promoted by Mehrsa Baradaran, formerly a lawyer with the lobbying firm for the big banks, Davis Polk & Wardwell. In a New York Times editorial (which failed to mention her bank lobbying work), Baradaran wrote that there are “essentially two forms of banking: regulated and insured mainstream banks to serve the needs of the wealthy and middle class, and a Wild West of unregulated payday lenders and check-cashing joints that answer the needs of the poor – at a price.”
Read more here.
— Posted by Alexander Reed Kelly.
Wait, before you go…If you're reading this, you probably already know that non-profit, independent journalism is under threat worldwide. Independent news sites are overshadowed by larger heavily funded mainstream media that inundate us with hype and noise that barely scratch the surface. We believe that our readers deserve to know the full story. Truthdig writers bravely dig beneath the headlines to give you thought-provoking, investigative reporting and analysis that tells you what’s really happening and who’s rolling up their sleeves to do something about it.
Like you, we believe a well-informed public that doesn’t have blind faith in the status quo can help change the world. Your contribution of as little as $5 monthly or $35 annually will make you a groundbreaking member and lays the foundation of our work.
Support Truthdig
There are currently no responses to this article.
Be the first to respond.