Hanarchy Montanarchy wrote:Payday loan businesses are basically charities, operating on razor thin margins to provide for under-serviced communities out of the kindness of their hearts.
The villainous practice of democracy should be banned, cruel as it is to these paragons of virtue.
This sentiment highlights something I hope others will notice as we move through these topics - What is good economically and what is good politically are often polar opposites. This is a truism we can highlight countless ways.
Imagine for a moment that I’m running for office, and my platform is this:
“No more predatory payday lenders, a ban on exploitive price gougers, and more rent controlled housing for the people. It is time for the rich to stop abusing the poor!”
That’s fairly good politics. A lot of people will favorably react to that messaging because they have no love for “the rich” and they feel compassion for the poor.
But once the policies are in place,
how do the poor actually fare?
Not well:
- • They lose their lenders.
• During disasters all needed supplies are cleared out by the first people to reach them (aka being poor or rich matters little, being first counts)
• A housing shortage commences (except for luxury housing which is typically exempt from rent control)
Popular political policies championed as protections for the poor can actually harm them. But that doesn’t matter to a politician. A politician needs votes, not effective economic policies.
So it is important that voters understand basic economics in order to choose leaders with ideas that actually help them, rather than ideas that sound “right” but wind up hurting them.
