The silliest comparison of payday lending is provided today by the Wausau Daily Herald in Wisconsin:

The payday loan industry’s best argument on its own behalf, as far as we’ve been able to tell, is that some bank fees such as bounced-check charges can be even more outrageous than payday lending costs. That might be true as far as it goes, but it’s sort of like saying that we shouldn’t regulate the sale of crystal meth because smoking crack also is a danger.

Uh, no. Payday lenders offer a less expensive, legal service that is nothing like illegal narcotics.