Interesting Links for 05-05-2016

[andrewducker]

Are Payday Loans Really as Evil as People Say? (tags: loans money research academia ) Trump nomination divides Republicans (tags: politics republicans usa ) Payday lender Wonga saw losses double in 2015 (tags: money loans uk ) First Grid-Scale Rail Energy Storage Project Gets Environmental Approval (tags: storage electricity trains ) New

Comments

[supergee]

nellorat’s mother would try calling her by the names of her sisters and sometimes their dogs.

"Apple Stole My Music. No, Seriously."

[cartesiandaemon]

This is why you can't sign a contract for just anything, and even if the contract absolves apple of responsibility, if they claim they're selling a music service, but actually they (deliberately, on purpose) burned your computer down, they may still be liable. Although I don't know if that will ever happen.

RE: "Apple Stole My Music. No, Seriously."

[mair_aw]

I hope you have read "The software engineer's guide..." with close attention. It looks an excellent resource.

Re: "Apple Stole My Music. No, Seriously."

[naath]

yeah... wow. I thought that was going to be one of those 'I contracted to rent a thing and then the rentor decided to take it away again' things (annoying, but I don't see why you shouldn't be able to rent people music or whatever) but that's... way beyond that!

Are Payday Loans Really as Evil as People Say?

[cartesiandaemon]

I found the most useful quote at the end:

DUBNER: It sounds as though those repeat rollovers are the source of a lot of the lender’s profits. So, if you were to eliminate the biggest problem from the consumer’s side, wouldn’t that remove the profit motive from the lender’s side, maybe kill the industry?

DEYOUNG: This is why price caps are a bad idea. Because if ... payday lenders lost some of their most profitable customers - because now we’re not getting that fee the 6th and 7th time from them - then the price would have to go up. And we’d let the market determine whether or not at that high price we still have folks wanting to use the product.
His suggested alternative is to cap the number of rollovers and transition people to a more normal longer term loan, although I don't know if that would actually translate to a fairer product. But it sounds like, he doesn't know for sure, but he thinks it likely the actual profits are from people who get caught in a debt-trap endlessly repaying original loans they'll never claw clear from,

RE: Are Payday Loans Really as Evil as People Say?

[cartesiandaemon]

I suppose to be fair, there are lots of other products which in the past were associated with spiralling debt (loans at all, in some Christian tradition, gambling when it's illegal, etc, etc) which are now accepted as fairly mainstream. So maybe it's possible to pry the legitimate business out of the abusive side, but I don't know how.

RE: Are Payday Loans Really as Evil as People Say?

[andrewducker]

Yeah, that's the tricky bit. Working out how much of a business there is there once you get rid of the scummy side of things, and whether it's a necessary service that does more good than harm.

[mair_aw]

"“I’m graduating in two weeks and my siblings will all be there,” Deffler said. “I know my mom will make mistakes.”

Now she knows why."

She does? I can't say I feel particularly enlightened by the article.

The Underground Fight Clubs Of Dark Souls III

[cartesiandaemon]

I was fascinated by the hacker Malcolm Reynolds corrupting people's saves via a dagger, it was like a fantasy story, "If this demon appears, commit suicide before he can touch you with his dagger. If he does, you will become soul-rich but never be able to play again."

RE: The Underground Fight Clubs Of Dark Souls III

[andrewducker]

Yeah. The myths and legends that sprout up from this kind of thing are awesome.