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February 15, 2008
Too Short For This Ride, Too Poor For This Loan
This month, the bureaucrat-knows-best mentality that has been sweeping the nation hit the Palmetto State. Assuming that we are too stupid to choose for ourselves, South Carolina legislators are planning to usurp control of our finances by limiting the amount of money residents can take out in loans. Charleston’s bureaucrats also intend to impose even tighter restrictions on those who fall below a certain income. In short, the state Senate plans to limit citizens’ financial options, especially those who already don’t have many.
If the government starts limiting our financial choices based on the number of zeros at the end of our paychecks, loans won’t be the only target.
ATM transactions can be as costly as “payday” loans. Perhaps legislators should bar the poor from using ATMs to “save” them from those fees. Should those making less than $50,000 be barred from spending more than a quarter of their paycheck on flat screen televisions? Airplane tickets? Laptops? Maybe the government should begin doling out weekly allowances to lower-income Americans instead of giving them access to their own money.
There is no need to follow this reasoning to its extreme, because it starts out that way.
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