“In contrast to the complex instruments that helped bring about the financial crisis, payday loans are astonishingly low tech: Applicants bring in a stack of paper showing that they have a job and a bank account, write a paper check in a physical store for the amount they will owe when the loan comes due, and walk away with a handful of cash. These localized, low-key transactions are hardly the stuff of innovative high finance, but that hasn’t stopped Congress and the president from purposefully conflating ordinary, everyday financial practices they deem unsavory with those that caused a global financial meltdown.” (10/23/09)