Payday Lenders Leave You Shackled and Drawn

Last year, Oklahomans involved in the New Baptist Covenant movement determined to draw critical attention to the loan sharking that is legal under our payday lending laws.

A few days ago, USA Today called attention to the influence payday lenders are trying to exert on the U.S. Presidential election by their contributions to SuperPAC's.

Payday lending is just the tip of the iceberg of the predatory finance and investment system that we have in this country.

Bruce Springsteen describes the result of the inequities of our economic system in a number of songs on his new "Wrecking Ball" album. Here's my favorite:

Gambling man rolls the dice,
working man pays the bill
It's still fat and easy up on banker's hill
Up on bankers hill, the party's still going strong
Down here below we're shackled and drawn.

Shackled and drawn, shackled and drawn
Pick up the rock son, carry it on
We're trudging through the dark in
a world gone wrong
I woke up this morning shackled and drawn.

Every morning, someone borrowing money from a payday lender wakes up to find themselves shackled and drawn.