BuckeyeBlog

The debate about payday lending has been notable for the anti-lending forces as well as those in the press (am I being redundant?) fail to grasp basic facts about the payday loan industry. I have documented that repeatedly on this blog. It seems that I have more work to do, however, based on today’s editorial in the Dayton Daily News. Let me just comment on a few of the more egregious departures from reality the editors make:

There are alternatives to payday lenders. Credit unions, for instance, and even some banks will make short-term loans for much more reasonable rates.

Really? Then why do people choose payday lenders who, in the view of these editors, rip them off? Are these consumers idiots? Well, no, since the notion that credit unions or banks are going to be making high-risk, unsecured loans at low rates to a large number of people is ridiculous. It isn’t happening now and it won’t happen when the ban goes into effect. The fact is that these high rates are necessary to provide the product that borrowers want and need.

After Sept. 1, short-term loans simply would be capped at 28 percent on an annualized basis, versus the 391 percent that can be charged now. Borrowers would pay $18 for a two-week $300 loan, not $45.

No. A 28% APR on a two-week, $300 loan is $3.23. Would you loan money to someone for that low of a rate? Would you make a profit if you did?

But when lawmakers looked into the payday businesses’ practices, they found that many customers were being encouraged to take out loan after loan because high fees were trapping them in debt.

That sounds like lawmakers actually did a study of the issue and discovered the borrowing patterns of those who take these loans. That didn’t happen. They heard from a handful of people who needed a payday loan at the time but, in retrospect, didn’t like the price they paid. But these borrowers agreed to pay the price at that time, indicating that the viewed it then as a fair price. Furthermore, there was no evidence that people were being encouraged to take out more than one loan. The plural of anecdote isn’t data. (more…)

The Buckeye Institute’s Mike Maurer discusses the governor’s economic agenda, the federal bailout of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and what it means to be a conservative with Ohio Republican Rep. William G. Batchelder. A 32-year legislative veteran, Rep. Batchelder is the dean of Ohio conservatives.

Or click here to download the audio.

State Rep. Josh Mandel (R-Lyndhurst) joins Buckeye Institute President David Hansen to discuss his support for special needs vouchers, his opposition to Gov. Strickland’s misguided so-called stimulus bill, and his support for Rep. John Adam’s State Income Tax elimination bill. A Marine Corps officer who has served two tours of duty in Iraq, Rep. Mandel also gives his perspective on the progress of the war.

A first term legislator, Rep. Mandel is quickly becoming a steadfast voice for conservative principles in the Ohio House of Representatives.

In anticipation of the Fourth of July, Steven Chapman at Reason magazine has an interesting article about how freedom (specifically economic freedom) is essential to the pursuit of happiness:

Two things, it appears, are needed to increase the supply of happiness: freedom and money. As it happens, a substantial amount of freedom is crucial to the creation of wealth. There is no such thing as a rich totalitarian country, as even the onetime totalitarians in Beijing finally realized. So in a very real sense, freedom is the key to happiness.

The survey, by the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan, involved asking people in 97 countries two simple questions: “Taking all things together, would you say you are very happy, rather happy, not very happy or not at all happy?” and “All things considered, how satisfied are you with your life as a whole these days?”

What the researchers found is that in the 52 countries where the poll has been done over the last couple of decades, the percentage of people giving upbeat answers rose in 40. Among the places where smiles have been spreading are such developing countries as China and India, which have grown freer as well as more prosperous.

The Evergreen Freedom Foundation’s Labor Policy Analyst Scott Dilley discusses labor union accountability with Buckeye Institute President David Hansen.

National Review Reporter Stephen Spruiell joins David Hansen on Buckeye Voices to discuss his article “Factory-Sized Deception - Obama, freely trading in dishonesty.”  Spruiell argues that Barack Obama’s campaign misled Ohio voters by blaming NAFTA for specific plant closings in Ohio

Buckeye Institute President David Hansen gives the free-market perspective on Governor Strickland’s big government jobs package, casino gambling and payday loans on the Bob Conners Show, 610 WTVN.

American Council for Capital Formation Chief Economist Dr. Margo Thorning addresses the economic perils associated with the federal Lieberman-Warner emissions bill.  Dr. Thorning estimates that if the bill takes effect Ohio will lose 44,000 to 67,000 jobs by 2020 and 100,000 to 143,000 jobs by 2030.  In addition, Dr. Thorning warns Ohioans’ electricity costs will increase by 30% to 38% by 2020 and 126% to 177% by 2030.

American Conservative Union Vice Chairman Dr. Donald Devine discusses Federalism and the future of conservatism with Buckeye Institute President David Hansen.  Dr. Devine is also director of the Federalist Leadership Center.  The Center is co-hosting a Federalist Leadership School with the Buckeye Institute on April 3.  Details are available in the events section of www.buckeyeinstitute.org.

Wall Street Journal editorial board member and senior economic writer Steve Moore joins David Hansen for a discussion on Ohio’s unfriendly business climate.  Moore was the author of a March 3 Wall Street Journal editorial comparing Ohio’s economic failure to Texas’s economic boom.  The article is available at www.buckeyeinstitute.org/article/1103.