Republicans vote for loan sharking

Oregon Republicans Squash Dems Effort To Regulate Payday Loans

Salem, Oregon -

Representative Betty Komp (D-Woodburn) fought for a vote Tuesday on a bill that would have set rules in Oregon's presently unregulated payday-loan industry, protecting consumers from extremely high interest rates and what she calls 'predatory lending practices,' but the majority Republicans killed the effort on a party-line vote.

Senate Bill 545, which passed the Senate earlier this session, would have set a limit on the interest and fees that a lender may charge for payday loans

Put it on a referumdum and watch it pass with more than 90% of the

Repuglicons _love_ usury. Attempts to regulate teh payday and title loan industries here in South Carolina have repeatelfy failed. Interest rates of 540% per annum, 45% a month, or 10% a week, and even more are common.

Add credit cards to the list of federally protected usurers, at a time when banks pay only around 2% on savings.

Is it coincidence that, since the Republican revolution, loan sharking has become legal and many states run the numbers games?