“There Are Lies, Damn Lies, and Statistics”
The Springfield News-Leader published a letter to the editor from the Show-Me Institute this morning about payday lending.
In response to the reader comments that claim that the information in our letter was misleading, that was exactly our point. Just as it is misleading to quote payday lending rates in annualized terms (when most loans are paid off in just 14 days), so too it would be misleading to quote library late fees in annualized terms (when late fees are only $0.10 per day after 30 days).
In short, we believe that individuals — not the government — should dictate the terms at which people voluntarily choose to contract with one another.
