I Always Find It Interesting

[Hassan]

That the "moral majority" never rallied in opposition to the obscene usury rates in the United States.

[CatherineM]

They have talked about trying to cap interest rates charged at pay day loan places. The biggest opponent to that is sometimes the people who depend on those places when they need a care repair or medicine and don't have a credit card. I think they did pass something about limiting the amount they could charge military personnel. The kids were getting so far in debt, that they would end up being over the limit that they allow them to be, and still deploy overseas. That was more a readiness issue for the government than one about them worrying about the well being of their troops. They feel that if you owe too much money, then you are a potential security risk if the bad guys offer you money.

[Aloysius]

I remain opposed to usury as it has been defined throughout the ages: the charging of any arbirtrary interest at all on the lending of money (that's how it was defined in biblical through medieval times)... but yes, there is certainly no majority to rally against it with me

[Madame Vengier]

[quote name='Aloysius' post='1624231' date='Aug 11 2008, 01:18 PM']I remain opposed to usury as it has been defined throughout the ages: the charging of any arbirtrary interest at all on the lending of money (that's how it was defined in biblical through medieval times)... but yes, there is certainly no majority to rally against it with me [/quote]


How about the jizya? Does that count?

[IcePrincessKRS]

[quote name='CatherineM' post='1624088' date='Aug 11 2008, 01:16 PM']The kids were getting so far in debt, that they would end up being over the limit that they allow them to be, and still deploy overseas[/quote]

Unfortunately they get there by plain old stupidity most of the time. A lot of them enlist right out of highschool and are so thrilled by the seemingly generous paycheck they are now getting that they blow it all and don't have enough to live off of by the end of the pay period. Then they use a credit card to go buy a TV and pawn it for cash. Stupid. Next paycheck comes in, repeat.

Part of the problem probably can be blamed on parents for not teaching their kids about things like budgeting and savings accounts. When they get out there with newfound financial freedom they don't know how to live within their means. When I was 16 and got my first job my parents made me file my own taxes. When I got married and found out that my husband had never filed his own--his parents had done it for him--I was stunned. We actually paid someone to prepare our taxes for a couple of years; we had a lot of paperwork that I didn't understand due to my husband's status as a contract worker, but before he had that job he still hadn't ever filled out a 1040 by himself. For the most part my in-laws have given their kids really good financial advice, I couldn't believe they managed to skip this one.

This isn't to say we're experts on the matter but we are able to make all our car/house payments, pay our bills, and feed our kids, etc. with the paycheck he's earning. We aren't desperately turning to credit cards to tide us over, or pawning stuff for an extra 50 dollars. Parents would do well to make sure their kids have at least some basic knowledge about this kind of thing before their kids move out.

That said, interest rates are disgusting. Exorbitant. It's ridiculous.

[Hassan]

[quote name='Madame Vengier' post='1624258' date='Aug 11 2008, 01:39 PM']How about the jizya? Does that count?[/quote]

no.

[Winchester]

[quote name='Hassan' post='1623889' date='Aug 11 2008, 03:44 AM']That the "moral majority" never rallied in opposition to the obscene usury rates in the United States.[/quote]
The "moral majority" has always been a misnomer.

Now [i]that's[/i] interesting.

[Nihil Obstat]

[quote name='Winchester' post='1624498' date='Aug 11 2008, 05:12 PM']The "moral majority" has always been a misnomer.

Now [i]that's[/i] interesting.[/quote]
Can you explain for me?
I think I understand... and if I do, it makes perfect sense.

[Resurrexi]

[quote name='Aloysius' post='1624231' date='Aug 11 2008, 12:18 PM']I remain opposed to usury as it has been defined throughout the ages: the charging of any arbirtrary interest at all on the lending of money (that's how it was defined in biblical through medieval times)... but yes, there is certainly no majority to rally against it with me [/quote]

I agree.

[Winchester]

[quote name='Nihil Obstat' post='1624650' date='Aug 11 2008, 08:10 PM']Can you explain for me?
I think I understand... and if I do, it makes perfect sense.[/quote]
The majority has never been moral.

[Deb]

[quote name='Winchester' post='1625328' date='Aug 12 2008, 01:12 PM']The majority has never been moral.[/quote]


Agreed.

[prose]

In a city outside of Edmonton someone sued a pay-day loans company for usury and won. They not only didn't have to pay the interest, but the loan was wiped away as punitive damage.