Loan Sharks

As a society, it would seem logical that we would want drug pushing, loan sharking and corporate influence peddling to stop. At the very least, we could go back to making it against the law.

"Financial reform" is a boon for people in the payday loan business. When people fall out of the world of traditional banking, they are still going to need bank-like services. Payday lenders will be in position to fill the gap.

If we are going to see true evolution and true civil society, we must begin with supporting the most disadvantaged in helping themselves. They know what they need.

Gary Rivlin's book "Broke USA" describes Sandra Harris, an accounting technician who borrowed $200 from a payday lender to pay her car insurance afte...

Big banks that received TARP bailout money are funding payday lenders -- companies Senator Dick Durbin (D - Ill.) termed "bottom feeders" -- and which...

Despite what the Wall Street Journal says, Broke USA is an even-handed look at the poverty industry. A little even-handedness would have gone a long way in the Wall Street Journal's review.

I've watched many people get in trouble with upside down car loans, second mortgages or high interest rate financing. Credit keeps many people from living within their means. Then a friend told me he was buying a large house.

Who is the real Magic Johnson? The friendly guy who raises money for charities or the guy who encourages people to get high interest loans they don't need?

I'm not sure where the payday lending businesses came from, but they populate poor neighborhoods everywhere. It's time to help people on the low end, too.