I guess this was inevitable.

The state director of the Missouri Civic Engagement Table takes on payday lending in an op-ed:

It is true the industry would not make high profits with 36 percent APR, but that is not because it is 36 percent; it is because of the two-week loan. Credit unions are making small dollar, short-term loans at much lower interest rates very successfully, but the loan life is six months to a year.

The truth is the industry would not exist with that arbitrary rate cap. And the author agrees that a credit union loan and a payday loan is an apples-to-oranges comparison.

Rep. Barney Frank wants Warren nominated as permanent director of the CFPB: 

The former Democratic chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, who co-authored the Dodd-Frank financial regulation bill, tells MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” that Warren might survive a confirmation battle.

His reasoning? “This is not just the left and the right. The Republican Party is united against healthcare and united against the environment. They’re not united against financial reform.”

From Paul Krugman’s NYT Blog:

Elizabeth Warren Is Not Jesus

A city council in Utah has placed restrictions on payday lenders.

The ordinance caps the number of businesses allowed in the industry, while eventually lowering the number to 13, and prevents them from existing within 1,500 feet of each other.

Hypothetically speaking, what do you think the reaction would be if the same rules were placed on fast food businesses? No golden arches can be located near a Burger King? Food for thought …

A state senator in New Hampshire wrote an op-ed this weekend explaining her effort to create a short-term lending product in the state.

… When working families find themselves in need of short-term credit to address these needs, our state laws do not allow for a safe, viable option – in many cases, forcing consumers to turn to costly and unregulated products.

A letter to the editor challenges The Clarion-Ledger on its attacks on payday lending. Good read.

Can someone please explain how it is “entrapment” to offer loans to walk-in customers at rates that are posted on the wall with signs literally six-feet tall?

From Haggard’s song, “Are the Good Times Really Over”: I wish a buck was still silver, it was when the country was strong….

From an FBI news release:   “Bernard von NotHaus, 67, was convicted today by a federal jury….of making coins resembling and similar to United States coins; of issuing, passing, selling, and possessing Liberty Dollar coins; of issuing and passing Liberty Dollar coins intended for use as current money.”

The Atlantic Columnist Daniel Indiviglio thinks Republican financial reform proposals are much ado about nothing.  From the story:

Since the moment the Democrat-controlled Congress passed the sweeping financial regulation bill in mid-2010, Republicans began talking about repeal. Many were against some of its more controversial measures. So last week, when they unveiled legislation to nullify several aspects of the bill, advocates of financial reform might have feared they would try to dismantle the legislation. Instead, the changes they suggest are at worst benign and at best pretty good ideas.

This is actually fairly interesting.