Spitting on the Troops

One of the more disgusting consequences of the Bush era has been how Republicans love to repeat "support the troops" like a mantra while enacting policies that don't support them at all. Actions speak MUCH louder than words in this case, and the reality is that Republican policies have not only endangered our troops, but gouged them:

A Pentagon report last month found that as many one in five U.S. service members “are being preyed on by loan centers set up near military bases” that can charge interest of 400 percent or more. Increasingly, soldiers have debt levels so high they are barred from serving overseas; others suffer from “bankruptcies, divorces and ruined careers.” (More facts HERE.)

The Pentagon has joined consumer, military, and veterans groups in backing a bipartisan amendment from Sens. Jim Talent (R-MO) and Bill Nelson (D-FL) that places a cap of 36 percent on high interest rates for short-term payday loans to military members.

But one conservative congressman, Rep. Geoff Davis (R-KY), is trying to gut the amendment. Davis has proposed his own language — praised by the payday lending industry — that sets no real limits on predatory lenders. One of Davis’s aides admitted last week that he consulted on the legislation with “CNG Financial of Mason, Ohio, one of his top campaign donors and owner of national payday lender Check ‘n Go.”

This is just another case of Republicans in the pockets of corporate America doing the bidding of Big Business instead of regular people. There's simply no reason imaginable to charge US soldiers and their families 400% interest. Soldiers, especially National Guard members who are pulled out of their jobs and given small stipends to fight overseas, have enormopus financial problems associated with war.

Fortunately, we have a candidate in Kentucky that is willing to call Geoff Davis out for this sickening affront to US servicemen. Ken Lucas is running this ad that sticks it right to Davis for his support of corporate contributors.



Ken Lucas is a former Congressman and he's running neck and neck in the polls with Davis. This ad ought to put him over the top, in a just world. Republicans like Geoff Davis spit on our troops and call themselves patriotic. It's beneath contempt.