Bandaid the symptoms, ignore the disease

The government is so good at identifying symptoms, but it is pathetic when it comes to addressing the disease. Case in point are the following:

Ohio (Effectively) Halts Payday Lending

The new Ohio law would limit borrowers to four short-term loans a year and cap annual interest rates at 28 percent. The bill also would limit loan amounts to $500 per loan, or 25 percent of a consumer's base monthly pay, whichever is less.

Defense Department to Defend Soldiers from Debt

The Pentagon is writing a rule to keep the minds of U.S. troops on their missions by shielding them from debt, but the prospect of the Defense Department as a regulator frightens the financial industry....

On the surface these may seem like noble causes, but has anyone stopped to think about why these steps are necessary. The stress on these "consumers" is the symptom and the "loan sharks" are just a byproduct of that symptom. The disease is decades of poor fiscal management, misplaced regulations and subsidies and inflationary policies. Is it any wonder that people are borrowing short-term to cover expenses? Incomes have not increased in over a decade, yet expenses have doubled, tripled and quadrupled in some cases. You don't solve the problem of stagnant wages and increased prices by trying to clean the blood from the wound off the floor. Nobody will address the real issues, but they will certainly wag the dog with any number of "noble" attempts to help "we the people". The fucking hypocrisy of our "leaders" is beyond me.