The guest today on the podcast is Beverly Brown Ruggia who oversaw the payday loan divestment project for NJ Citizen Action. We are following up on a press release that appeared yesterday 1/27/16 : Victory for NJ Consumers and Pension Holders State Divests Pension Funds from Illegal Payday Lender (Note: Adam Deutsch originally discussed this story on May 6, 2015 in his post “New Jersey Must Cut Links to Unscrupulous Payday Loan Company”. This piece was also published as an Op-Ed in NJ Spotlight on April 30, 2015, under the same title, “Op-Ed: New Jersey Must Cut links to Unscrupulous Payday Loan Company.“)

The news that the State of New Jersey is officially divesting its money from funds that own shares in payday loan firm Ace Cash Express Inc. is a big victory for the consumers and tax-payers of New Jersey.  In April 30, 2015 NJ Spotlight published an Op-Ed in which I wrote about the need for the state to stop investing in a pay day lending company which is prohibited from doing business within the state.  It was remarkable that the state would even consider investing in illegal business.  The work of NJ Citizen Action in leading the campaign within the state legislature to divest money from an immoral and illegal operation must be applauded.  There is no question the taxpayers and consumers of New Jersey have cause to celebrate today.

In this podcast Adam Deutsch discusses the divestment project with Beverly Brown Ruggia who oversaw the divestment project for NJ Citizen Action.