How Can Magic Help Rip-Off-People?

Magic, Magic, Magic. Are you so poor that you need to endorse a product that preys on poor people? On top of the questionable tactics of Jackson Hewitt now you have partnered with Rent-A-Center. Shame on you!

I have lived in poor neighborhoods for most of my life. When you announced that you had HIV I remember people in a storefront church praying for you. In my neighborhood people looked up to you and wished you well. Though we were in Boston you had more than your share of fans. And these fans transcended basketball. When an article was published about some business venture of yours people were proud. Years later the yellowed newspaper clipping was still posted in the local grocery store.

Rent-A-Center Truck (On Monday)

I am not sure of when I first realized that there were companies like Rent-A-Center. I remember going into one of the stores and, in short order, turning around and leaving. Nothing spelled scam to me like paying many times the retail cost for a sofa. Sadly some of my neighbors and friends were not so wise. They fell for the spiel and the allure of having something they desired even if they truly could not afford it. Oh, they could afford the payments. That is until a child got sick, the car broke down or they lost one of the jobs that contributed to their household income.

How many times did I ask friends to “do the math” only to hear some rationalization for the purchase? These rationalizations were helpfully provided by the sales people and TV hucksters. So eloquent and yet so wrong. And so it continued and today I am in a different neighborhood in a different state, and the story is the same. Usually on Friday a Rent-A-Center truck pulls up and unloads the bright, shiny, goodies. But when I see the truck on a Monday it usually means that someone is going to lose a fridge, some furniture, or most sadly, a computer that the children have gotten used to using for school. A computer that they have already paid $400 for. And, if they had saved, or if they had real credit, $400 probably would have bought them all the computer they would need.

But hey, that’s not Magic’s fault, is it? No, of course not.

In one of the commercials Magic talks about his Dad working double shifts to give his family a better life. The same is true for most people today. Sadly there are pressures and temptations that even Mr. Johnson did not face. One is a company telling him, as society joins in the chorus, that they can provide “the good stuff your family deserves”. How can you deny your family something they “deserve.” And who is pushing this? Someone they prayed for, cried for, and cheered for. Someone they respect. In one of the commercials Magic is even talking about respect as we see trophies and photos of his career roll by. Respect. Magic earned it and now he is using it to shill for the loan sharks.

If you do a Google search you will find many sites that detail the crimes and deceit of Rent-A-Center. I will quote one of those sites just to show you some of the theft perpetrated by Rent-A-Center.

“Last month, Washington State Attorney General Rob McKenna sued Rent-A-Center. The lawsuit charges the company with “unfair and deceptive business and collection practices.”

McKenna says customers cannot figure out how long it will take them to own an item, because the company “consistently fails to provide the true purchase price for each item that’s being rented. We’ve seen people pay $3,600 for a fridge, $4,000 for a laptop, $6,600 for a used TV set,” he says.” – From MSNBS ConsumerMan

Magic, have you no shame? $3,600 for a fridge, $4,000 for a laptop, $6,600 for a used TV set!!! Where is the respect in directing vulnerable and manipulated people to a company that rips them off? These people prayed for you when you were at one of the lowest points of your life. They cheered for you both on the court and as you began to have business success off the court. And this is the thanks you give them? So sad.

Shame on you Magic Johnson.

Ted Kennedy (D – MA) is terminally ill. That is sad but it is a fate that awaits us all. As a parting gift to the Democrats he is now trying to overturn a 2004 Massachusetts that took the ability of the Governor to appoint the replacement of a Senator who resigns or dies.

The Wall Street Journal puts this situation in perspective with one paragraph:

What Mr. Kennedy doesn’t volunteer is that he orchestrated the 2004 succession law revision that now requires a special election, and for similarly partisan reasons. John Kerry, the other Senator from the state, was running for President in 2004, and Mr. Kennedy wanted the law changed so the Republican Governor at the time, Mitt Romney, could not name Mr. Kerry’s replacement. “Prodded by a personal appeal from Senator Edward M. Kennedy,” reported the Boston Globe in 2004, “Democratic legislative leaders have agreed to take up a stalled bill creating a special election process to replace U.S. Senator John F. Kerry if he wins the presidency.” Now that the state has a Democratic Governor, Mr. Kennedy wants to revert to gubernatorial appointments.

In his letter advocating for the law change Kennedy trots out his supposed concern for citizens of Massachusetts “to have two voices speaking for the needs of its citizens and two votes in the Senate during the approximately five months between a vacancy and an election.” This is all very noble but the question immediately comes to mind: During his illness ho often has Sen. Kennedy been present to lend his voice and vote to the job he seems so concerned about? Well, in 2009 he has been absent for a staggering 97% of the votes. Of 270 roll-call votes he has been absent for 261. And these absences started last year.

Senator Kennedy, concern is not saying the right about a subject. Concern is doing the right thing. You say you believe “it is vital” the people of Massachusetts “have two voices” representing them in the Senate. Well, where has your concern been for part of 2008 and 9 months into 2009? Do they only deserve two Senators when it is politically convenient for you and your party? This is not leadership and, as a former constituent of yours, I am not surprised.