Author: Jody Harris
Jody is associate director of the Maine Center for Economic policy and has 30 years of public policy and management experience. She worked at the Maine State Planning Office under four governors and served as town manager in two Maine towns. She has a master’s degree in public administration from the University of Maine.
Last week, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) released new regulations on payday lenders. Instead of reigning in the notoriously greedy industry, the bureau eliminated common sense requirements that would protect consumers. In doing so, the bureau has turned its back on the very consumers it is meant to protect, leaving Maine families exposed to…
Robo-calls from unrecognized or blocked numbers, calling for payments that we don’t owe. Collection agencies calling multiple times per day, failing to identify themselves, lying about what’s owed, or violating Mainers’ privacy by speaking about the debt to whomever answers the phone. Companies calling at all hours even after they’ve been told to stop or…
We all have heard the numbers about escalating student loan debt across the country. Maine is no exception. Residents of our state carry more than $6 billion in education debt. Excessive student debt takes money out of Maine’s economy. MECEP’s analysis indicates that education debt held by Mainers could support 6,000 jobs and three-quarters of…
When the Maine Center for Economic Policy joined a dozen nonprofit labor, business, senior, economic justice, and community organizations from Maine to call for stronger federal consumer protections against predatory payday lenders, we didn’t know we were enlisting in a movement! But consumers from across the country poured out their stories to federal regulators about…
Just when you thought Congress has finally gotten something right, they disappoint once again. I am talking about the national school meal programs. Congress assumed correctly that if more than 40% of students in a school automatically qualified for free or reduced lunch, there were likely a lot more hungry kids besides those enrolled in…
This week the Maine Center for Economic Policy urged federal regulators to establish strong protections against abuses by payday lenders. Their loosely regulated, short-term, unsecured loans trap people in a cycle of debt. These predatory lenders especially target seniors, veterans, women, and low-income Mainers, forcing them deeper into poverty. A new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau…
The Maine Center for Economic Policy has joined hundreds of civil rights, consumer, labor, faith, veterans, seniors, and community organizations across the nation to strongly urge its Congressional Delegation to oppose H.R. 4018, the “Consumer Protection and Choice Act.” Don’t let its title mislead you. This bill has nothing to do with protecting consumers. This…
With mud season right around the corner, our roads will once again be awash in pot holes knocking auto front-ends out of alignment and costing each Maine driver, on average, $300 a year more in car repairs. As a town manager early in my career, I was on the receiving end of many a complaint…
As if employment opportunities for low-income workers weren’t bleak enough―low-wages, no retirement savings, no health insurance― now these workers face a complete breakdown of the traditional employer-employee relationship that historically provided for safe working conditions, income protections, and economic security. Nearly 33% of Maine working families are low-income. That means 40,000 Maine households with at…