I guess you didn't actually read my comment. I'm gonna blow your mind with this: people have differing opinions on things and that you have to immediately question my 'motivations' or assume i'm some sort of 'paid actor' is the kind of ad hominem attacks I'm so used to seeing on HN.

Payday lending offers a very specific type of service. Extreme short term loans. Like all loans, there is risk associated. Unlike other loans traditional payment plans do not really apply. Interest rates will be different. However, with the market operating appropriately, people will move towards the better options. This might include, better service, better interest rates, better contractual agreements, who knows. It's the free market.

I wasn't even defending it. I was pointing to an economist who is a noted hard libertarian type who did defend it, in the hopes that someone might read it and think to themselves - for a fat second - "wow some people do not see the world the way I do", you have utterly failed that test.