The Benefits of a Poorly Written Article…..The Comments

In a terribly written (and researched) article at CNBC titled “Payday Loans Cost Economy $1 Billion in 2011: Study“, the only good thing are the comments.  There are many:

Waaaiiitt a minute. Didn’t the people who collected the interest on the payday loans also participate the economy? Didn’t those loan sharks go to restaurants, buy cars, go to the movies, etc.? Is CNBC letting the interns write the articles again? Just because someone is gouging someone else doesn’t mean the money is lost to the economy. It just means that the money is moved from the disadvantaged, or stupid people to the wise guys. Sort of like the retail brokerage business.

juDiamond | May 3, 2013 02:44 PM ET

And Banks take $36 Billion a year out of peoples pockets with HIGH FEES PHONY FEES EXHORBITANT FEES USURY FEES Sid Feinberg hit the nail on the head….good job sir!

rk | May 3, 2013 02:46 PM ET

I agree with PaulMcGee. I’m pretty sure that the “loan sharks” didn’t burn the money that they earned. It went back into the economy. The other point about charging Interest rates of 200-500%, seems like Usury. At those rates, there must be a reason that more people don’t get into the business and undercut the market. Maybe the risks of these loans are very high, and the high rates are needed to cover the losses from those who don’t pay back their loans.

thereugoagain | May 3, 2013 02:49 PM ET

Wait …..the government took over student loans and screwed it up …maybe they should try again ….nationalize all of the Payday Loan operations and put Joe Biden in charge!

BurbankBurner | May 3, 2013 03:49 PM ET

As usual we have “busy body” liberals, imposing their ignorance on the population. Since ALL of their statistics are made up, there is no reason to attack this industry. If the snotty, elitist, liberals would come down from their east coast perches, they might learn what really goes on in these pay day loan centers. But since none of them hablar espanol, they won’t have a clue about what they continue babbling to all who are dumb enough to listen.

sidfeinberg | May 3, 2013 03:57 PM ET

Banks, auto loans, and MORTGAGES do the same thing. I just provide a service to a desire in the market. Pay Day loans are quicker than a traditional bank. Banks are worse than any store we own and they are glorified by the press. A whore is a whore

bpl828 | May 3, 2013 05:45 PM ET

$1Billion? Chump change! Just let the Fed take care of it. They are spending almost, errrr, printing almost 100 times that amount each month! Pennies! C’mon!

Radical_1 | May 3, 2013 07:48 PM ET

If you don’t like the rates, don’t take out the loans! It’s that simple. As long as there are people willing to pay these rates I don’t see anything wrong with them charging whatever they can get for their services. The retailers are no different as they’ve been raking us over the coals for decades, charging 100% and more mark-ups from their cost for nearly everything they sell. Just think of how much more money every consumer would have if these people just charged what they needed to make a decent profit instead of an outrageous profit. The people would be a whole lot better off, but thats not the way it works in the US anymore, now days they charge the max they can get, so whats wrong with the Pay Day lenders doing the exact same thing. TRUE CAPITALISM AT WORK, RIGHT?