"All of these ideas recognize that we don't live in a world of perfectly informed consumers making rational decisions in well-functioning markets."

So the government is going to play Big Brother again, telling people what they can and can't do. The government has been telling people officially for the last 45 years that smoking is bad for them, but they start anyway. They've been told tanning will kill them, but there they are every summer. They've been told to stop eating high-cholesterol, saturated-fat beef, but they continue. Etc, etc. etc. DON'T THESE ELITISTS GET IT?? People don't want to be told what to do. People don't want to bother to educate themselves. So-called smart people sometimes lack common sense. People want to blame someone else for their errors, mistakes, stupidities and foibles. Government has been teaching them this for the last 45 years that it's not their fault if they do stupid things.

Payday lenders are filling a need. Yes, we compartmentalize our lives and don't transfer lessons learned from one experience to the next.

Banks know that people are too stupid to balance their checkbooks or record any of their debit card purchases, so they count on those overdraft fees.

Believe it or not some people are indeed smarter than others. Failing to spread that wealth is no different than failing to be charitable in other ways.

Allowing these criminal enterprises to operate and fleece the mathematically challenged is no better of an idea than allowing pharmacies to push morphine to addict their clients.