(Richard Baker/Getty Images)
If the fine, good-hearted rich people of our fair city could immediately cease and desist from their incessant efforts to save poor people from themselves, WIBC host Tony Katz would appreciate it.
An Indiana House committee on Tuesday advanced a measure that would allow payday and subprime lenders to charge interest rates on small loans at levels currently classified as ‘felony loan sharking.’
While WIBC host Tony Katz would never advise a person to utilize the services of a pay-day loan establishment, he is adamantly opposed to the state government establishing the maximum rates at which money can be loaned versus those rates being determined by the actual lenders.
Katz:
“It’s problematic for the government to determine what is ‘acceptable’ for two people to engage in contracting. What the opposition to Senate Bill 613 is essentially saying is that people who are in a desperate situation and need to utilize the services of one of these places should not be able to do so.
Well I don’t think government gets to make that call. In fact, I think for someone else to tell a business owner what he can charge to lend someone money is pretty elitist.
You might have money and be able to get a loan from a bank, but some people don’t have that option; they have to get money when they need it and where they can.
…If the General Assembly wanted to pass a bill to everyone to grow up and that not every day is sunshine, I’m fine with that; not a problem. I’ll show up for that bill signing. This bill says, ‘Guess what? Sometimes bad things happen and you need to be prepared for it. Maybe you didn’t need that extra pair of shoes; maybe you didn’t need that Starbucks coffee; maybe you didn’t need to see that movie a third time. Why don’t you actually save your money?’”
Click the link below to hear Tony’s full commentary.
