Hightower Lowdown

A while back, a developer’s lobbyist complained that “the word ‘sprawl’ has been totally demonized.” Yeah, I hate it when good words go bad, don’t you?
Now comes a passel of bank lobbyists rallying around another fine bit of jargon: “predatory lending.” This term applies to bankers who target lower-income folks and talk them into taking out loans to, say, refinance their homes. The predator writes the loan in such a way that the poor borrower cannot possibly pay it back—so people lose their houses. It’s bank robbery, only the bankers are doing the robbing.
Think reputable bankers would find this abominable? Well, some of the most reputable bankers in the country have dispatched lobbyists to Washington, where their boy Bob Ney, a Republican Congress critter from Ohio, has introduced a bill for them. Ney’s bill would have the federal government pre-empt pro-consumer “fair lending” laws that have passed in Georgia, New York, and other states.
But wait, you say, I thought Republicans wanted to give more power to the states. Well, when it helps corporate interests to have power federalized, suddenly so-called conservatives like Ney are up on their hind legs decrying the messy “patchwork” of state laws. They’re not conservatives—they’re corporate whores.
To fight the shame of predatory lending, contact ACORN, the great grassroots fighter for consumers: 1-877-55ACORN.