# Pitting the Washington Post for glorifying ignorance and stupidity **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 24, 2014, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-the-washington-post-for-glorifying-ignorance-and-stupidity/702371 "2014-10-24T17:43:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 11
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2014, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-the-washington-post-for-glorifying-ignorance-and-stupidity/702371/201 "2014-10-27T14:54:11Z")
I don’t understand what was so oppressive about the existing usury law, which has been in force for decades? A couple of exploitive types dress up usury with a different name, and the government isn’t motivated or smart enough to act to stop it? I for one want smarter government. And I liked the usury laws being effective. I don’t believe the mighty should be given free reign to exploit the weak (intellectually or monetarily!). Because they can, doesn’t give them the God given right to, in my opinion. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2014, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-the-washington-post-for-glorifying-ignorance-and-stupidity/702371/202 "2014-10-27T14:57:20Z")
People have been renting things out for outrageous\* amounts of money forever. Not sure you can craft a law that would eliminate these businesses but not negatively impact the entire rental industry. But give it your best shot! \*compared to the actual cost of the item. ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2014, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-the-washington-post-for-glorifying-ignorance-and-stupidity/702371/203 "2014-10-27T15:39:19Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > People have been renting things out for outrageous\* amounts of money forever. Not sure you can craft a law that would eliminate these businesses but not negatively impact the entire rental industry. But give it your best shot! > > \*compared to the actual cost of the item. Sure you can. Rentals are rentals. When you rent something, you pay a fixed fee to use that item for a period of time. Purchases on credit are when you pay a fixed fee to own an item, but receive the item before it is fully paid off. This is clearly a purchase on credit, even if you call it “rent-to-own” or “Aunt Martha” or “po folk bonanza”. It should be subject to the rules and protections of any other commercial credit transaction. Giving something a fancy name doesn’t mean you get to skip all the rules every other lender is playing by. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2014, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-the-washington-post-for-glorifying-ignorance-and-stupidity/702371/204 "2014-10-27T16:02:53Z")
So if she had to give back the loveseat at the end of the contract, it would be different? Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2014, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-the-washington-post-for-glorifying-ignorance-and-stupidity/702371/205 "2014-10-27T16:45:01Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > So if she had to give back the loveseat at the end of the contract, it would be different? Different? It’d probably be ruined. ---
**Author:** ![andros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@andros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andros)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2014, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-the-washington-post-for-glorifying-ignorance-and-stupidity/702371/206 "2014-10-27T16:47:59Z")
Well, it might smell like ass. But not necessarily ruined. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2014, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-the-washington-post-for-glorifying-ignorance-and-stupidity/702371/207 "2014-10-27T16:50:52Z")
> [@suranyi](#): > > As has been mentioned, usury is illegal even if the terms are clearly spelled out. One could argue that this is a form of usury. I assume, perhaps wrongly, that usury is clearly define in state laws? Say a certain percentage rate (X) is usury, but a slightly lower rate (X - 1/8 %) would NOT be usury? ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2014, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-the-washington-post-for-glorifying-ignorance-and-stupidity/702371/208 "2014-10-27T17:10:08Z")
> [@Typo\_Negative](#): > > I assume, perhaps wrongly, that usury is clearly define in state laws? Say a certain percentage rate (X) is usury, but a slightly lower rate (X - 1/8 %) would NOT be usury? IIRC, the usury laws that had existed in this country for decades largely got repealed ca. 1980 when the prime rate topped 20%, which meant that interest rates on everything else had to go a good bit higher. The interest rates went down, but the usury laws mostly weren’t reinstated. IMHO, usury should be redefined in terms of the prime rate, the Fed overnight funds rate, or some such - e.g. the Fed overnight rate + 30%. Something like that would allow plenty of room for non-exploitative interest rates (and maybe some rates that edge into exploitative territory). And if the only way a loan is profitable is to charge a higher interest rate, then maybe that loan shouldn’t be made. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2014, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-the-washington-post-for-glorifying-ignorance-and-stupidity/702371/209 "2014-10-27T18:27:16Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > IIRC… YDRC. Usury laws are still on the books. [Here is Alabama’s.](http://codes.lp.findlaw.com/alcode/8/8) ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2014, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-the-washington-post-for-glorifying-ignorance-and-stupidity/702371/210 "2014-10-27T18:28:32Z")
> [@even\_sven](#): > > Sure you can. Rentals are rentals. When you rent something, you pay a fixed fee to use that item for a period of time. > [@Shodan](#): > > So if she had to give back the loveseat at the end of the contract, it would be different? Exactly. If you read the article in the OP, something like 75% of all items are returned. IIRC, most within a few weeks. ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2014, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-the-washington-post-for-glorifying-ignorance-and-stupidity/702371/211 "2014-10-27T19:16:37Z")
So, renting a couch for 3 years, with a monthly payment, and at the end of the 3 years, you have to give the couch back - perfectly fine But, renting to own a couch for 3 years, with a monthly payment, and you get to keep it at the end of the 3 years - predatory lending? :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![D\_Anconia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@D\_Anconia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Anconia)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2014, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-the-washington-post-for-glorifying-ignorance-and-stupidity/702371/212 "2014-10-27T19:19:25Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > YDRC. > > Usury laws are still on the books. [Here is Alabama’s.](http://codes.lp.findlaw.com/alcode/8/8) Don’t bother the likes of RT with the facts. ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2014, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-the-washington-post-for-glorifying-ignorance-and-stupidity/702371/213 "2014-10-27T19:28:58Z")
> [@monstro](#): > > It wouldn’t be the prospect of never having a couch that would drive me towards bad decisions. It would be the absence of all the other nice things in addition to not having a couch. No nice clothes. No nice car. No nice home. No nice anything. And I’d be reminded of this every time I turned on the TV. > > I could do away with my couches right now and not suffer a bit because I’ve got plenty of other symbols of success and normalcy. Obviously, the couch was only an example, because it’s discussed in this thread and I happen to need one. That said, I’m pretty spartan. I live in a very small flat, with less than the minimum of furnitures. The five things I need the most in general are a bed, a couple cupboards, a table, a desk and a couch. So, the couch is quite up there, in term of (very relative) luxuries. ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2014, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-the-washington-post-for-glorifying-ignorance-and-stupidity/702371/214 "2014-10-27T19:42:56Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > Buy a used couch for a few hundred bucks, put it n the back of your truck, and drive home. > . Truck? Weirdly again on point, because someone called me tonight to tell me someone else was giving away a nice, clean couch. Problem : I don’t have a truck, nor friends with a truck. Assuming that this woman has one is a strange assumption. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2014, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-the-washington-post-for-glorifying-ignorance-and-stupidity/702371/215 "2014-10-27T19:51:13Z")
How much would it cost to rent a truck vs. buying a couch? Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2014, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-the-washington-post-for-glorifying-ignorance-and-stupidity/702371/216 "2014-10-27T19:51:29Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > If some of you think there is money to be made by creating “micro-financing” outlets so that poor people can buy luxury items, knock yourselves out. Maybe that’s a business model that you can make work. Micro-financing has been so successful and so much talked about that nowadays, “fake” micro-financing is becoming widespread. That is, micro-financing that isn’t intended to get people out of poverty, as was the original idea, but proposed by sharks who realized that they haven’t tried to milk the “very poor” cow yet and that could be an efficient way to do so. It has begun to wreak havoc and misery in the developping world for a while, and I understand that it’s appearing in western countries too (where they have been micro-financing too for some time). Not the same thing as what this thread is about, but the same idea. ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2014, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-the-washington-post-for-glorifying-ignorance-and-stupidity/702371/217 "2014-10-27T19:56:09Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > How much would it cost to rent a truck vs. buying a couch? > > Regards, > Shodan Good point. (Although in my case, I don’t have a driving license, either, so it’s moot). ---
**Author:** ![steronz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steronz/32/11765_2.png) [@steronz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steronz)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2014, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-the-washington-post-for-glorifying-ignorance-and-stupidity/702371/218 "2014-10-27T19:56:25Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > How much would it cost to rent a truck vs. buying a couch? > > Regards, > Shodan Without a valid credit card? Good luck. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2014, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-the-washington-post-for-glorifying-ignorance-and-stupidity/702371/219 "2014-10-27T20:20:42Z")
> [@steronz](#): > > Without a valid credit card? Good luck. This is exactly the sort of good point that someone with good credit isn’t going to think of, and it’s why it’s pretty presumptuous to look over your pince-nez (sorry, not monocle) and wag your finger at poor people for their decisions. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2014, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-the-washington-post-for-glorifying-ignorance-and-stupidity/702371/220 "2014-10-27T20:36:03Z")
From the [Penske Truck rental we](http://www.pensketruckrental.com/faq.html#rate-other-payment-types)bsite: > [@](#): > > **What if I don’t have a credit card?** > If you do not have a credit card, please call us at 888-996-5415 to ask about our cash reservation policy. And we all know how nearly impossible it is for someone to get a credit card. Regards, Shodan [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-the-washington-post-for-glorifying-ignorance-and-stupidity/702371.md?page=10) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-the-washington-post-for-glorifying-ignorance-and-stupidity/702371.md?page=12)