Who would want to pay between 390 percent to 520 percent interest on their loans? That is exactly what payday lenders charge. They market short-team loans to low-income people without a credit rating or poor credit. These individuals have no choice in an emergency but to turn to these lenders, the ones some call today’s loan sharks.
Top Trump million-dollar donor Michael Hodges spoke to a group his fellow payday lenders and urged them to join in on his pay-to-play scheme via webinar. He told them that the way to Trump’s heart was through contributions. The Washington Post wrote that he said:
‘Every dollar amount, no matter how small or large it is” is important, Hodges, founder of Advance Financial, one of the country’s largest payday lenders. For example, I’ve gone to Ronna McDaniel Republican National Committee chair) Ronna, I need help on something. She’s been able to call over to the White House and say, ‘Hey, we have one of our large givers. They need an audience. … They need to be heard and you need to listen to them.’ So that’s why it’s important.’
Under President Barack Obama, Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) set up the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to protect people from just this type of legal extortion. However, Donald Trump’s acting Chief of Staff/OMB (Office of Management and Budget) Director, and acting chief of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Mick Mulvaney took all the teeth out of the agency.
The 2020 presidential candidate Warren took Mulvaney on over his attempt to “kill the consumer agency,” her webpage wrote:
‘In Congress, you tried repeatedly to kill the consumer agency. But here’s what you don’t get, Mr. Mulvaney: this isn’t about me. This is about active-duty military, it’s about first responders, and students, and seniors, and families-and Ari, and his dad, and millions of other people who need someone on their side when consumers get cheated.’
The Vanity Fair magazine wrote:
‘[L]ast November, his objective was pretty clear: to bury the agency in a shallow grave. As a congressman, he’d characterized the C.F.P.B. as a “sick, sad joke” and co-sponsored a bill to get rid of it. But now that he’d been handed the keys to the place, he decided it would be much easier to just hack it to pieces from the inside, rather than attempting to legislate it out of existence.’
Should Warren (D-MA) win in the 2020 presidential election, Hodges claimed that she and Chair of the powerful Financial Services Committee Representative Maxine Waters (D-CA) would be a big threat to them.
Max Wood of Borrow Smart Compliance spoke during the webinar Woods:
‘When Trump was elected, the needle moved in our favor — finally.
‘If you need something and we may need something … then it would be good to be able to pick up the phone and call someone that could get the president’s attention it [donating] will give [Hodges] access in the event that we need to have access to the president.’
Hodges referred to his wife in this comment:
‘If I can show the campaign that Tina and I have brought in net new givers to the campaign, meaning whether it’s $100, $50, $25, $15,000 or $50,000 if they didn’t give last time, that is a boost to us as fundraisers.
‘When I am talking about access, I am not talking about the administration. I haven’t lobbied the administration. I have not gone over to the White House because of Ronna McDaniel. … That just has not happened.’
Featured image screenshot via YouTube.
The Mueller Report Adventures: In Bite-Sizes on this Facebook page. These quick, two-minute reads interpret the report in normal English for busy people. Mueller Bite-Sizes uncovers what is essentially a compelling spy mystery. Interestingly enough, Mueller Bite-Sizes can be read in any order.
