Now for something different. . .

There was a time, I am told, when Christians opposed usury. . .

There’s something that’s not clear from today’s New York Times article about how payday loan sharks are ripping off military families: the payday loan industry is in bed with the Republican Party.

According to Wall Street tea leaf readers, one of the major loansharking companies, Cash America, also stands to profit from increased energy and health costs, leading analysts to rate it a “strong buy” for people who don’t have to worry about ever being charged a 700% interest rate. Not surprisingly, Cash America, which is based in Texas, has donated to the PAC formed by a Tom DeLay crony and its federal PAC gave to Republicans over Democrats by a two to one margin. Cash America’s profits are so strong that it has catapulted into the Forbes 200 Best Small Companies, along with Texas competitor First Cash. (“Best” clearly means most profitable, not “best” in any other sense of the word.)

According to data collected by the Center for Responsive Politics, these firms have PACs that gave to Republicans rather than Democrats in the 2004 election cycle by an average ratio of two to one. So you know who’s pushing for their legislative interests and what those legislative interests are: less regulation, less tax, you get the idea.

Now, however, they can’t get enough. This has the potential to be a wedge issue. I imagine that there are more than a few Republicans out there who are angry that they have to piss away a portion of their shrinking paychecks on interest and fees to these bastards. For a wedge to work, however, people need to be relatively well informed about the stances of the two parties (they aren’t), and believe that something useful can be accomplished through political action (they don’t, at least in this area). There are good reasons why a payday loan industry should exist, but there are also methods of regulation that can limit the worst instances of exploitation.