Just as the Supreme Court unanimously decided that Larry Flynt should have the right to publish a parody which they considered distasteful – because freedom of speech must be protected – so we should all have the right to make outrageous offerings as long as they are honest, because freedom of commerce must be protected. And if someone buys my autograph for a million bucks and then goes bankrupt as a result, well he needed to learn to be more frugal. That’s why W.C. Fields said, tongue in cheek, “Never give a sucker an even break!” That wasn’t advice for making money, it was advice for helping people wise up.

Now that isn’t to imply that I think payday loans are a bad deal. A payday loan is an option which is appropriate in some circumstances and it is an option which it is very important be preserved because payday loans can in fact save lives in emergency situations. For some people a payday loan – or taking out repeated payday loans – is a foolish choice and those people need to learn from their mistakes just as people need to learn from their mistakes not to drink too much wine or eat too much high-fat food. All good things can and are abused by people who need to learn to be more responsible.

With regard to the APR, again it is only a small part of the picture. The APR of a loan doesn’t tell you how profitable the loan is for the lender – because it leaves out his cost in issuing the loan – and doesn’t tell you how wise the transaction is for the consumer, because it doesn’t consider his other alternatives. The APR, as a statistical tool, is only useful for comparing loans which you have access to; if all other factors are equal then the wisest choice is the one with the lowest APR. But if a consumer doesn’t qualify for any other type of loan, which is the case with most payday loan customers, then the APR becomes irrelevant except for comparing different payday lenders. In either case the wisest course of action is to weigh the actual dollar cost of the loan versus the consequences of not taking it out, and for some people the payday loan will be a wise choice and for others it will not. It is a personal financial matter and consumers should have the right to make that decision for themselves. The government can help by offering free credit counseling and perhaps should start a nonprofit emergency loan program, but it shouldn’t trample on the rights of honest lenders and people who wish to utilize their services.

Tell me, if APR isn’t appropriate to calculate a payday loan, is MPH appropriate to calculate the speed of a car if I’m only driving for 10 minutes? Can I tell a cop that “I couldn’t have been going 80 MPH, I’ve only been on the highway for 10 minutes! I haven’t been driving for an hour.” That won’t fly folks.

This “financial options” and “jobs” argument won’t fly either. We all know that the majority of payday lenders have already applied to loan under different laws. The majority of payday lenders aren’t going anywhere, they just have to offer a better product.

Ohio voters are smart enough to see through you guys, no matter how many millions you spend on adds.

31% NO. Allow payday lenders to charge 391% annual percentage rate.

The fact is that payday lenders lend money to people whom nobody else will lend to, and about 90% of that 391% interest goes towards covering the cost of issuing the loans. If a double-digit APR cap is imposed then small-dollar short-term loans – the only type of loan which many people can qualify for – will simply cease to be available and many people will suffer greatly because of it.

This shouldn’t even be before the electorate because it is a matter of fundamental rights, the right of merchants and service providers to set their own prices and the right of consumers to choose for themselves which products and services they wish to avail themselves of. Obama was right when he said, in one of the debates, that fundamental rights should not be subject to referendums.

Read it and weep, folks. This is the only poll that used the actual ballot language. When people read the ballot language, Issue 5 passes 69-31. Goodbye and good riddance.