Folks in a pinch can bank on payday loans
When reporting a story about any subject, it is important to give attention to all perspectives on an issue.

Anne Denogean’s March 18 column (“Payday lenders don’t deserve second chance”) completely ignores the “other side” while taking the words of a politically motivated group, the Center for Responsible Lending, as gospel truth.

Fairness would dictate that the opposing viewpoint receive a fair and equal opportunity to state their case, which for payday lending is a compelling one.

While payday loans are controversial, they serve an important purpose in the market. They meet consumer demand for short-term emergency loans when other sources of financing are unavailable.

They are risky but clearly more desirable than the alternative, ancillary charges and late fees, which only further damage a blemished credit history.

In a study conducted by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, researchers found that states with bans on payday lending experience an increase in bounced checks, higher rates of bankruptcy and more complaints related to collections.

Protecting citizens from fraud is an important role of government, but the proposed restrictions ignore the benefits of payday lending.

Payday lenders are serving a group of consumers essentially blacklisted from more mainstream lending practices. In the end, consumers, not government officials, should determine whether a payday loan will meet their needs.

MATTHEW GLANS

The Heartland Institute

Chicago

McCain needs to shape up or ship out
I was appalled to learn that John McCain was the only senator who two weeks ago skipped a crucial vote on the future of clean energy in America, dooming the measure to fail by just a single vote.

How serious is he about leadership of the country and the free world when he doesn’t even show up for a vote as serious as this one? What would he skip as president?

Now I am even more appalled to learn that this is a pattern with Sen. McCain. On the League of Conservation Voters scorecard he received a 0 for missing the 15 most important environmental votes in 2007. McCain’s score of 0 is lower than members of Congress who died last year. If he was the man he claims to be, he would have the highest score bar none. It is disappointing to discover that this is how our state senator is representing our interests.

John McCain’s LCV score exposes the real record behind the rhetoric: a lifetime pattern of voting with polluters and special interests and ducking the important votes. Our politicians, all too often, sell out to the special interests groups that care only about making the buck now – the future be damned. I am afraid that that is just what the future holds for us!

As T.S. Eliot said, “This is the way the world ends, not with a bang, but a whimper!”

VALERIE ANN PLUMLEE

Oro Valley

Everyone’s not so crazy ’bout a Sharpton man
A lot of people have supported Sen. Barack Obama – a lot of people of different races and backgrounds.

His latest statements have given us things to wonder about. He now comes off looking a lot like Al Sharpton with a clean shirt and a good haircut. A second look at Sen. Obama makes one just a bit uncomfortable.

At one time, I supported him over Hillary. She is one scary woman. I think now, that I was wrong. They both scare me.

EUGENE COLE

Tucson

These letters to the editor appear online and not in the Tucson Citizen’s print edition.

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 27th, 2008 at 12:00 am and is filed under Opinion. Tags for this post: Editorials, Opinion-Editorials. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.