Last night during the 7 o'clock Simpsons on UPN I saw Al Sharpton doing a LoanMax commercial. It made me ill. I lived in New York during the Tawana Brawley mess, and I've never forgotten it, but I have watched Sharpton do some good things since then...This is not a good thing. It is more akin to what Troublemaker calls "liquid crack."

UPDATE: At the American Spectator blog, John Tabin defends high-interest lending as if it's the only way for people ignored by banks to get credit. Nonsense. Here in North Carolina, Martin Eakes has shown that "unbankable" people and businesses can participate in the credit market without the "help" of predatory lenders.

Comments

[Mal Carne]

And just think. This man was in the running to become a Democratic presidential candidate.

[David Wharton]

He's become the anti-Martin Eakes.

[Sue]

Did he EVER apologize for or explain that ridiculousness?

[Patrick Eakes]

My understanding is that Martin called Sharpton on that commercial, and Sharpton agreed to disassociate himself with LoanMax.

[miriam's ideas]

Sharpton can't do anything worse unless he murders someone with his bare hands. He caused the death of a man when he led a riot in Harlem against a (white-owned) sporting goods store.

Al Sharpton has many gifts; intelligence, charm, articulateness--but he uses them for evil purposes, or to enrich himself.

[Fecund Stench]

Thanks for the link to the Troublemaker.

[TC@LeatherPenguin]

Ed, Al may have traded up vis-a-vis he's not wearing the sweatsuits and the big "MLK" bling, but he's always gonna be a street punk.

I ask, someone point out the podium "Rev. Al" was ever officially installed upon. He's never had responibility to a flock better than gangbangers. This man ain't Floyd Flake; he's not even in the park.

[Mike]

What "good things" has Sharpton done, exactly?

[JoeS]

Al, Jesse and the democrat party must keep the african american community in ignorance and poverty or they will be out of jobs. They have to spread racial hatred to keep people from seeing that good things happen to those who get educations, work hard, get married before they have children.

I think they are best described by JC Watts as "Poverty Pimps"

[E. Cone Levy]

lease lay off of my man Al. He is quite simply the coolest presidential candidate ever and he beat Howard Dean in the Washington DC. primary!

I thoroughly enjoyed hearing Sharpton speak last year at the Koury convention center. In his speech, he iterated that life for Black America was better but that their was still work to be done in order to achieve true equality.

Rev. has become more tame as he has gotten older.

give the guy a break, he's putting a child through an expensive university and he was recently divorced from his trophy wife.

I know that good citizens such as Danny Wright and Skip Alston stand behind me in my full fledged support for Al and you should too!

[opine6]

Let's call a Spade a Spade (no pun intended). Sharpton, Jackson, Farakhan, and half the Democrat Party are poverty pimps. Much harm has been done to the Black American psyche by these people constantly telling them they are victims of "the man".

[scott]

I read somebody quoted on Instapundit saying how bad these loans are and how high the interest rates are, and how they can't believe anyone's ever gotten these loans. Well, these aren't long-term loans. THey're for people who need money a week before they get paid. I've never gotten a payday loan, but I used to have to pawn stuff for a couple years of my life. Yeah, it wasn't a great deal, but I would have been even more screwed if the option wasn't there.

[Seven Machos]

The answer to me seems obvious: predatory lenders should have a security interest in exactly the thing that is securing the loan -- the car, the furniture, the paycheck, the house, whatever it is. If they give an unsecured loan, and at an interest rate deemd to be "predatory," that's their problem. Risky lending is risky.

This way, the creditor gets their stuff and the debtor is not out anything but what is secured.

What's the problem with this approach?

[Mike in Colorado]

The problem is with garnishment laws. When these people can't pay, their wages are garnished. This adds to public costs (courts and collection/disbursment of the garnishment) and private cost (the employer has to collect the money and send it to the garnisher or court). If the borrower has a job, the lender knows that he'll get paid. If you eliminated or severely restricted garnishment laws, lenders wouldn't make these "high risk" loans.

[Auto Loan]

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