The Cup O' Joe Radio Show #113: Buyer Be Damned

[Joeve]

This is a summary of the latest "Cup O' Joe Radio Show" podcast, availaible here and posted with the permission of the author.

My special guest is Branden Lee of GeorgiaWatch, a consumer advocacy and watchdog group.

Predatory lenders and credit scammers are about as scummy as you can get as far as business practices are concerned: they prey on the poor and the naive, and in some cases what they're doing is outright theft. For example, according to Mr. Lee, if you take out a title loan for $200 on your car, which is valued at, say, $5,000, and you are late on one payment, they can sell your car, pocket whatever they get for it, and still hold you liable for the loan. In this observer's opinion, that's nothing short of stealing, and the owners of these companies ought to be tossed in jail.

The only thing that realistically has the power and authority to prevent this is the government, whether you're talking about state or federal government, but because of the undue influence of money on politics, you can bet that nothing serious will get done about it. At best some band-aid laws might be passed that will be loosely enforced, at best. What would be just as good is if people simply refused to work for these companies, but unfortunately when you're trying to support yourselves in tough times, it's hard to ask someone to choose between what's morally right and their own survival.

I think we also need to re-define our position on crime and enforcement: if it's wrong to beat someone up and take their money, that is, to take advantage of someone's physical inability to protect themselves, then it ought to be just as illegal to take advantage of someone's inability to protect themselves from scams like these. Educating people is great and I'm all for it, but it isn't always enough.

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The Cup O' Joe Radio Show podcast is produced semi-regularly by Joe Vecchio, whose opinions are entirely his own and do not necessarily reflect the viewpoint of any organization he belongs to.

The Cup O' Joe Radio Show is available on the following networks:
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In addition to the radio show, Joe Vecchio also produces the Cup O' Joe Report, a daily (M-F) two-minute podcast dealing with the issues of the day. The Cup O' Joe Report is available on the following radio shows:
Head On Radio with Bob Kincaid
All Things Reconsidered
Fourth Estate Radio
Big Phil's Love Parade