Quote Originally Posted by woodworker View Post
Nothing like an argument against a government agency that addresses some problems but fails to address all of them. I wish that they were better at this ...so I guess we'll just shut them down. That's an argument against all government agencies, as they are rarely as efficient as they should be.

However, unless you tore out the chapter on externalities in your economics textbook, you should realize that the profit motive means that private companies will not care about abusive problems or damage to third parties that are a byproduct of their businesses. That's why you have government agencies.

Yes, the positive side of Adam Smith's invisible hand is that it does the best job of guiding resources in a capitalist society. The downside is that it has delirium tremens from time to time.
With all sincerity, why is an agency needed to effect change in predatory lending practices? Why not simply make these abusive practices illegal? (And include legal 'work arounds' like places that 'rent' a victim new tires & wheels for a car at exorbitant prices but 0% interest).

And in praise of Adam's Smith's invisible hand, I've not heard of any banks recently making mortgage loans to people that have no possible hope of repaying it. Yet the government subsidizes student loans daily to kids that every party involved know could not possibly ever be paid back.