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Comment by llukas | Hacker News Reader

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llukas·

> The creditors who provided the loans were giving loans to stupid people

Anybody can seek to obtain loan. Creditors are professionals.

Never forget that.

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Exactly: The question is not "who was stupid", the question is "who failed at their FULL TIME JOB of preventing that kind of stupidity from mattering."

Humans are all stupid and fallible in some ways or situations, and we create organizations in order to direct our strengths in a way that shores up the weaknesses.

An ignorant student is regretful-but-expected, while an ignorant teacher is a problem.

Yes. But people are responsible for their actions. Taking out a loan has consequences and people should not be striped of those. Somebody who takes a payday loan and goes to casino is responsible for his/her action, it's not just the loan shark's fault.

Sure, but unless we spend some effort (money) on curing or shooting the unlucky addict it won't lead to pretty things. Responsibility or not. And usually in civilized countries we don't like to shoot mentally ill people. But for some reason just watching as they tear apart their and their loved one's lives is a-ok, because responsibility. :(

Because responsible people then have to bail these people out with their savings / taxes going up. It's a moral hazard. If there are no consequences for your actions / financial decisions, people will never learn and will continue making bad choices because why not.

Agreed. But simply letting responsibility run its course does not make the world a magically better place. Processes that lead to better global state often require catalysts, such as gov intervention (regulation, Fed actions, addiction treatment, etc).

The taxpayers are the responsible ones, while the bankers are not. I agree with you.

Losing your money when you lend it stupidly is only fair and responsible, too.

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