Luckily I don't have to choose now, but if I did, I think I'd vote for John Edwards in the Democratic primary, given the expected candidates. He just wrote a guest post at Think Progress that's worth a read. Recently I've seen speculation that no candidate could be elected today on a platform that emphasizes the eradication of poverty and a focus on the working poor. That may be the case but they are still worth supporting. If I suddenly got a strong sense that Hilary is eminently more electable than Edwards is in a general election, that's one thing that could effect my thinking. But I'm far from decided. That's just where I am today. I think Feingold would make as good a President as Edwards but right now I don't see him having a chance.
Middle and low-income families are under attack from predatory lenders who offer deceptive terms, charge unfair fees, and trap the unwary or the unlucky. According to Fannie Mae, about half of the subprime borrowers could qualify for regular interest rates, but didn’t get them. That means there are hundreds of thousands of people paying much more than they should for their home loans.
What’s especially outrageous is how predatory lenders go after African-American and other minority communities. If you are an upper-income African-American family, you are twice as likely to get a subprime loan as a lower-income white family. It’s incredible — even though you are doing better, you get a worse loan if you are African-American.
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Rather than passing laws that punish consumers trying to make ends meet, we should be cracking down on the irresponsible lenders that prey upon them. Congress needs to start paying attention to the growing problem of predatory lenders.
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