Featured Articles
The Issues Surrounding Issue 5
By Dr. Tom Lehman and Marc KilmerIssue 5 has provoked a lot of attention this election season. Approval of it by Ohio's voters would end the practice of payday lending in the state. Although Issue 5's passage has ramifications on the jobs of thousands and the financial decisions of many more, the debate has centered more on anecdotes than facts. Many in the media and state's political establishment seem to think that payday lending operates by different economic principles than other goods and services in the market. This misunderstanding taints the debate about this subject. It is unfortunate that this type of debate is occurring about a practice that should be no more controversial than any other type of lending.
The Great Casino Rip-Off
By Jeff HookeState Issue 6 permits a new casino in Clinton County, which is easily accessible to the Cincinnati, Columbus, and Dayton metro centers.
Throughout the rhetorical back-and-forth on the issue, voters are being subjected to a variety of competing claims. Strip away the layers of double-talk, and you will see that it is a gigantic taxpayer rip-off and a cynical attempt by Lakes Entertainment, an obscure casino company, to increase its stock price multifold.
The amendment provides Lakes Entertainment with a casino license worth $1 billion, in exchange for a measly $15 million payment, ensuring a $985 million windfall.
BuckeyeVoices
Buckeye
Institute Legal Studies Senior Fellow David Owsiany discusses the Ohio
Supreme Court with Case Western Reserve law professor Jonathan Adler in
this week's BuckeyeVoices.
Professor Adler and his wife, Christina, recently authored an in-depth
analysis of the Court's recent evolution in a paper
published by the Federalist Society.
The Adlers make a persuasive case that the Ohio Supreme Court has
dramatically improved over the last decade, due in large part to
activist justices retiring and voters replacing them with justices who
exercise restraint from the bench.
New at the Buckeye Institute
Dr. Tom Lehman and Marc Kilmer co-authored a policy brief debunking nine myths about payday lending.
We
regret to inform you that our Founder's Lecture Cleveland Breakfast
and Columbus Brown Bag Luncheon on October 29, 2008, with Dr. Matthew
Spalding has been CANCELLED. More events will be scheduled in the
near future. Please visit our events page on our website for
announcements
and updates. Contact Heidi Smith at hsmith@buckeyeinstitute.org
with
any questions.
Better Ways to Help Economy
The
Columbus
Dispatch reports,
"Ohio's economy is heading into a depression, supporters of a ballot
measure to allow a casino in southwestern Ohio said yesterday as they
promoted their measure as a way to counter the hemorrhaging of jobs."
In
Casinos no Panacea for
Ohio's Economic Malaise,
Buckeye Institute senior fellow Sam Staley writes, "Casinos don't
produce services and products that people outside Ohio want or will pay
to travel to. Ohio isn't Las Vegas, or Atlantic City, where large
numbers of adult gambling venues, particularly casinos, have created
international entertainment destinations. Lakes Entertainment is
proposing one casino resort, strategically located between three of
Ohio's largest urban areas: Cincinnati, Columbus, and Dayton. As an
entertainment business, it will draw local customers and the potential
for drawing interstate patrons is limited at best."
Voter Fraud in Ohio?
"Ohio is an important battleground state but there's already a war raging well before Election Day. Claims of voter registration and impersonation are being investigated and a special prosecutor has been called in," reports WLWT.
In Voter-Fraud Chaos, Buckeye Institute Ronald Reagan Distinguished Fellow Ken Blackwell writes, "As a nation, we must act now, before Election Day, to prevent voter fraud. If we don't, we could again enter December still fighting about who the next president will be. Imagine Florida-style litigation going on in multiple states, with countless disputes about who is a legal resident and where their ballot was cast, and you'll see what we could be facing. The key is to closely scrutinize all of these activities beforehand - so that we do not find ourselves in a chaotic situation after the polls close."
A Cycle of False Statements
The Toledo Blade editorializes, "Perhaps more nefarious than gambling's false promise of instant riches are businesses that under the guise of providing short-term loans for cash-strapped consumers take advantage of personal misfortune by charging usurious interest rates that often trap their customers in a cycle of debt."
In
Batchelder, Hagan Wrong
about Payday Loans,
Buckeye Institute analyst Marc Kilmer writes,
"It is certainly true that many people take out multiple payday loans
over the course of the year. When economists analyze why people do
this, however, they find that the borrowers' underlying financial
situation leads them into this behavior. It is not payday loans causing
their financial problems. Instead, their financial problems lead them
to seek payday loans. If legislation eliminates payday loans it will
not eliminate the underlying financial problems of borrowers."
Buckeye
Institute in the News
The Washington Times published an op-ed by Ken Blackwell on voter fraud and the New York Post published his op-ed on Barack Obama's Social Security plans.
David Hansen was quoted in a Columbus Dispatch story on the tax plans of Senators John McCain and Barack Obama. He was also quoted in a Denver Post story on right-to-work laws.
The Zanesville Times Recorder, the Lancaster Eagle Gazette, and the Lorain Morning Journal mentioned Buckeye Institute adjunct scholar Jeff Hooke's study on Issue 6 in editorials.
The Wheeling (WV) Register cited Buckeye Institute research in a story on Ohio's large number of school districts.
Marc Kilmer discussed payday lending on WIMA-Lima, WHK-Cleveland, and WSPD-Toledo.
