States target payday lenders and their high rates

[SomeYoungGuy]

Well said Robert.

Don't forget that there have always been high-rate loans available to high-risk borrowers; pawnbrokers and loansharks.

 

[efficiency]

Poor preyed upon?

The "poor" are the largest element of lottery ticket purchases, thus voluntarily paying additional taxes. Funding your schools, et cetra.

Speaking of taxes, without payroll witholding (implemented in 1943 as a temporary measure), the poor wouldn't have any savings (getting most or all back in the form of tax refund).

Stated another way, a princely portion lack self-discipline, thus fostering one of many stereotypes.

Payday loan locations serve a purpose. They replace loan sharks under a street lamp. Hence less broken bones.

 

[the1]

There's some truth to what you say but where do the financial predatorial practices end?

Quote from SomeYoungGuy:

The mushy part of me thinks it's terrible the way that the poor are preyed upon. The rational part of me thinks the poor are poor because they are terrible with money.

If it's not payday loans it's retarded home loans like stated income IO's and NegAm's, or it's late fees and check cashing charges, or it's any thing else the poor waste their money on because they just aren't good with money. You can't legislate fiscal responsibility, because our legislators certainly don't have any.

 

[MattF]

Quote from Robert Weinstein:

Its not like you can save people from themselves. Like the kid that goes to school with my son. His parents bought a new plasma TV about two months ago and he gets free lunch from school because they "can't afford it". They are also getting kicked out of their apartment for being late with rent. Why does someone buy a new TV when they are behind in rent??? And more importantly to me why am I paying taxes that are being spent in part to provide lunch for some kids family when they have a nicer TV than I do??

maybe you can buy the TV now at a "reduced rate"

 

[Ghost of Cutten]

Quote from TGregg:

So we're agreed? Some people are just too damn stupid to make their own decisions and need government to make their decisions for them. Any other decisions we'd care to remove from the hands of people who directly benefit or suffer from them, like trans fats, smoking, fast food, moving too far away from their family, exercise, getting insurance, etc?

It's a brave new world.

EDIT: Here's one I'd like to offer - how much house you can afford to buy. Recent experience shows that a whole lot of people have no $#^(ing clue how much money they can afford to spend every month on a house payment, nor WTF ultra advanced math principles like balloon payment and ARM mean. Obviously we need Uncle Sam (in his wisdom most awesome) to tell us just how much house we can buy.

Saying that people do stupid things in no ways implies they should be prevented from doing so by the government, especially since it's elected by those very same people.

 

[SomeYoungGuy]

Quote from the1:

There's some truth to what you say but where do the financial predatorial practices end?

When it's no longer profitable.

I think the best we can do is to make sure that any financial mess is compartmentalized. Basically, I don't care what you do to screw yourself, as long as your problems don't spill over and cause me grief.

 

[Blotto]

Quote from SomeYoungGuy:

The mushy part of me thinks it's terrible the way that the poor are preyed upon. The rational part of me thinks the poor are poor because they are terrible with money.

If it's not payday loans it's retarded home loans like stated income IO's and NegAm's, or it's late fees and check cashing charges, or it's any thing else the poor waste their money on because they just aren't good with money. You can't legislate fiscal responsibility, because our legislators certainly don't have any.

It isn't just the poor. For the middle classes it is designer clothing, "status" goods, real estate aspirations, etc. Wealth is transferred by exploiting the vulnerable and the stupid at every level of society. Trading is another aspect of this. Who loses? Usually middle class professionals with decent income and some savings to "dabble" with.