Political Quotes

“Mr. President, an American historian, James Truslow Adams, wrote a book in 1931 entitled ``The Epic of America,'' and in this book he coined the term the ``American dream.'' He went on to say this: ``Ever since we have become an independent nation, each generation has seen an uprising of the ordinary Americans to save that dream from the forces which appeared to be overwhelming and dispelling it.'' One of those forces that has been overwhelming the effort of middle- class, hard-working Americans to be successful is predatory lending. Today I am specifically rising to discuss the introduction of the SAFE Lending Act. SAFE stands for stopping abuse and fraud in electronic lending. The focus of this is short-term, high-interest loans, often referred to as ``payday'' loans. These loans often have interest rates of 300 percent, 400 percent, 500 percent. The debt a family has with one of those loans just grows and grows and grows. Consider this: If you take out $1,000 today, a year from now, at 500 percent interest, you owe $5,000. In 2 years you owe $25,000--an impossible sum for a family of modest means. So these payday loans pull families into a vortex of debt from which they cannot escape, and this vortex destroys them financially. These are huge consequences for the parents, certainly, but huge consequences for the children. It does a tremendous amount of damage to American families.…”