Trump's "consumer protection bureau" will let the $50B payday lending industry gouge the poorest Americans with triple-digit interest rates

Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2018/01/19/debt-traps.html

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“Protection”

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Heartbreaking. There will be those that learn of this and continue to approve, because they’ve never known the desperation of needing money for food, rent, or any of the already exploitatively-priced necessities we as humans require.

The utter dismay felt by the rest of us will serve as fuel for our discontent. How much fuel will be required before we no longer accept the “let them eat cake” mentality of the wealthy? Perhaps time will tell.

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While this is a typical over-the-top example of Il Douche’s horrible financial policy, it’s important to note that the groundwork for sleazeballs like Mulvaney was laid by “free”-market fundie establishment GOP Congresspeople (i.e. the vast majority of them) along with a handful of corrupt neoliberal-lite establishment Dems who took this bottom-feeder industry’s coin (former DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman-Schultz being the most egregious example).

Obligatory: John Oliver’s 15-minute primer about how these scumbag corporations prey on the poor and vulnerable:

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Nothing announces one’s intentions for a bureau better than requesting zero dollars to run it in the budget.

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I am still dismayed people still use these things. Pawn Shops have much lower, reasonable rates. It is basically legalized loan sharking that preys on people who need help the most. It is despicable.

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Maybe they think the “consumers” they’re supposed to be protecting are “those who will consume us all!”

consumer

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Yeah I’ve really hated these payday loan companies. They’ve sprung up all over my hometown in Kansas in all the usual places where the working poor live. It’s just disgusting that they exist at all.

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They also tend to congregate near military bases. So, we know how much 45 really loves his troops!

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Not a surprise. I read somewhere that the pay for certain ranks is rather low. So obviously why not bilk locked in labor force like the military.

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Triple-digit? You 'Muricans aren’t even trying.

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FDR had to deal with the real possibility that the labor unions would revolt against the US government. Trump has no such threats to his rule yet (probably never will).

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I wonder if perhaps the government should try and determine why demand for these products even exists in the first place. If 50%+ of Americans don’t have $500 in savings, no wonder these products are flourishing - http://money.cnn.com/2017/01/12/pf/americans-lack-of-savings/index.html

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To listen to the payday lenders tell it, they’re just offering the gift of credit to people who otherwise wouldn’t qualify for it.

I’m sure people in need of cash could sell their organs, but we don’t let them do that, either.

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Bring back the Postal Bank.

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We need Sander’s Postal Banking, and put these cock suckers out of business for good.

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Yeah… “Labor Unions”:roll_eyes:

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Exactly! These companies exist because “real banks” don’t provide a similar service, and in fact rarely provide even basic banking services to poorer people.

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What do you suggest they pawn? The luxury items they don’t have, or the few necessities they do have but which they require day to day?

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