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Do you know how much it costs to get your water and electricity turned back on? Not to mention that you have to toss any food you have saved and you have to fin

Do you know how much it costs to get your water and electricity turned back on? Not to mention that you have to toss any food you have saved and you have to find some way to live without access to toilets, etc for the duration. Compared to that, a payday loan is cheap. Yeah being in that situation is shitty in the extreme, and no none of your options are good, so you are trading very bad for worse.

throwawayjava 9y ago
But of course the underlying forces that create the necessary conditions for payday loans (and the World Bank) aren't necessarily beyond critique. Both critics and advocates of the World Bank claim that it's just one component of a larger international order. If that order is manufacturing the need for WB/payday loans then the WB/payday loaners could be worthy of modest praise but also extreme condemnation. IMO the debate over the relative merits of WB/IMF is really inseparable from a larger debate about the post-WWII western political/financial system. And, unsurprisingly, I imagine ground truth isn't easily compressible into any one coherent narrative -- especially an ideological one.
azurelogic 9y ago
The payday loan analogy is admittedly weak. I just meant to indicate that it's a crap deal. It is actually worse than payday loans. See, with payday loans, you just pay ridiculous interest. With WB/IMF loans, it's more like "we'll loan you money to keep the lights on, but you're going to have to stop taking your blood pressure meds, and one of our friends is going to stop by and eat some of your dinner every night".
- tomjen3 9y ago
  Okay, that makes more sense. I just get tired of people constantly harping on payday loans without considering the alternatives available. Also I was kinda shocked how much an effect it had when a collegue got his power turned of (he forgot the pay his bills).

throwawayjava 9y ago

But of course the underlying forces that create the necessary conditions for payday loans (and the World Bank) aren't necessarily beyond critique. Both critics and advocates of the World Bank claim that it's just one component of a larger international order. If that order is manufacturing the need for WB/payday loans then the WB/payday loaners could be worthy of modest praise but also extreme condemnation. IMO the debate over the relative merits of WB/IMF is really inseparable from a larger debate about the post-WWII western political/financial system. And, unsurprisingly, I imagine ground truth isn't easily compressible into any one coherent narrative -- especially an ideological one.

azurelogic 9y ago

The payday loan analogy is admittedly weak. I just meant to indicate that it's a crap deal. It is actually worse than payday loans. See, with payday loans, you just pay ridiculous interest. With WB/IMF loans, it's more like "we'll loan you money to keep the lights on, but you're going to have to stop taking your blood pressure meds, and one of our friends is going to stop by and eat some of your dinner every night".

tomjen3 9y ago
Okay, that makes more sense. I just get tired of people constantly harping on payday loans without considering the alternatives available. Also I was kinda shocked how much an effect it had when a collegue got his power turned of (he forgot the pay his bills).