The New York Times has a story today by Bob Driehaus -- Some States Set Caps to Control Payday Loans. It's a good overview of recent state efforts to push back against predatory payday lenders. The loan sharks enjoyed a good run for a while, and used massive campaign contributions to successfully pass numerous laws preserving their right to charge triple digit interest and keep consumers in perpetual debt, but state legislators are finally realizing that high cost lenders are bad guys, not good guys, and that payday loans aren't a choice worth having in the marketplace. Of course, as the story notes, the lenders are mounting ballot initiative campaigns in states where allowed, in efforts to try and overturn the new pro-consumer usury limits that many states have approved. My previous blog.