What do Irvin “MAGIC” Johnson, Montel Williams, and Arsenio Hall have in common?
They all lend their names to corporations to help them sell their products. They are vulture capitalist. Capitalist?
Now 3Chics ain’t trying to blast a brotha for getting paid, nor are we anti-capitalist. The thing is in order to be a capitalist, somebody has got to PAY. Unfortunately, those who end up paying are the weak, poor, and uneducated.
Last week 3Chics featured a thread on the mortgage foreclosure crisis. As Americans start waking up to the predatory lending practices of the banking industry, there’s still a need to continue addressing the other predatory lending practices in our communities, the Pay day loan centers. Don’t be fooled by these institutions. They’re literally another scheme set up by some banks to continue with their predatory lending practices.
Take a look and you decide. Are these brothers operating any differently than Wall Street, and our communities banks?
Read more here.
But Magic, what are you and Rent-a-Center really all about? Overpriced Household Products for Low-Income Families
Rent-a-Center encourages customers to “rent-to-own” a variety of household goods, targeting people who don’t have immediate cash to make these necessary purchases. Their services advertise that no credit is required to rent the goods, but by entering into an agreement, people often find themselves paying far more for a product than it’s worth. A television worth less than $400 can easily cost a customer $900 by the time it’s finally paid off. Source
Here, make sure you have one of these handy to read the fine print:
Who is really benefiting the most from these endorsements? Our communities or the stars and the corporations?
Our beef is that while they aren’t doing any thing illegal, these guys are selling their credibility and star power to predatory lenders. They are doing a great disservice to the very people who helped to elevate them to stardom in the first place.
Your thoughts, please. Thank you!
See that shit. both Montel & Arsenio’s adds:
Get up to a $1,000 by Tomorrow! What poor, desperate person isn’t going to jump on this dangling carrot?
Go get’em, Ametia!
Rent a Center & Pay Day Loans are vicious predators preying on the poor in vulnerable situations. They target poor neighborhoods & communities who get caught up in the cycle and can’t get out. Dirty scheming mofos!
Get them, Ametia! Expose their ass!
If you lie down with dogs, ya get flees. Sorry Arsenio was riding high for a while and could have managed his money better when he was raking it in a host for one of the most popular late night shows. Make it, save it, donate, and spend… Sorry, he doesn’t get a pass if he’s working it for shady businesses that prey on the ppor and vulnerable.
Hell yeah, Arsenio’s show was most popular. He mismanaged his money and now he has to hustle his own people. GTFOOH!
Magic is the one who should be ashamed of himself. He’s a millionaire businessman. He knows better than to disempower his people like this. Arsenio hasn’t had a job since the 90’s so he might need the paycheck.
And Montel is an ass.
Sorry, I can’t give any of these brothas a free pass when it comes to sticking it to your own peeps to get ahead. And I can’t give folks who know better and still sign on to these schemes because they don’t want to take responsibility for managing their finances.
It’s two-fold. Folks need to wake up and get themselves educated, because the system is always going to find new and unscrupulous ways to take their money.
Please tell me how folks think they can roll up into a joint or make a call and get instant cash of $1000, lickety-split, without paying a price for the INSTANT cash?