By Brandon Moseley
Alabama Political Reporter
On Thursday March 26, US President Barack H. Obama is coming to Birmingham to deliver a speech at Lawson State Community College. The President of the United States is expected to deliver a speech on the economy and call for greater government oversight on lending practices.
In February, President Obama said, “As Americans, we believe that our destiny is written by us — not for us — and that ours is a country where hard work should pay off and responsibility should be rewarded. Through all of the challenges we have overcome and the grueling work required to bring our economy out of the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, we have held on to that promise. Yet each day, fraud, abuse, and theft threaten the economic well-being of individuals and families across our Nation who spend their lives striving to build a sense of security.”
Pres. Obama’s controversial Consumer Protection Bureau has already held hearings in Alabama on the State’s consumer lending practices.
Alabama has one of the most unrestrained loan industry in the country. Payday lenders regularly make small loans with annual interest rates of over 250 percent. Legislation to end the practice have repeatedly stalled in the Alabama legislature. Legislators argue that banning the practice would only drive desperate borrowers to loan sharks in the underground economy.
The President is expected to call for tighter regulations on consumer lending practices when he makes his speech on Thursday.
This will be the President’s second visit to the State of Alabama this month. President Obama and his family recently visited Selma for the 50th Anniversary of “Bloody Sunday.”
In both the elections of 2008 and 2012 the State of Alabama supported President Obama’s Republican opponents.
