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Comment by maxcan | Hacker News Reader

Unfortunately, there will always be people looking to take advantage of the foolish and unsophisticated. The only solution is on the demand side - reduce the number of foolish and unsophisticated buyers by teaching real financial literacy to the population.

Of course no one wants to do this because the industry doesn't want to stop ripping people off and "progressives" and "liberals" don't want to admit that the "the high school science teacher who didn’t realize she had been sold a variable annuity" has agency and shouldn't have been buying a product that she didn't understand and which a quick google search should have quickly warned her about.

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Why do we bother making {lying, stealing, killing} illegal, when we could just rely on people to have the agency to avoid getting hit?

Because we live in a civilization.

Lying isn't illegal.

Try that in court.

Luckily for you, lying isn't illegal.

A better example is this:

Someone goes into a used car lot and explains to the dealer that they live in a cold climate with lots of snow, have three kids, and go camping a lot. They explain that they need a car with lots of cargo room, is reliable, cheap to maintain, and which is good in icy conditions.

The dealer proceeds to talk the buyer into buying a 20 year old porsche 911. It doesn't satisfy any of the stated needs and costs the buyer money that they didn't need to spend. The dealer's actions were clearly unethical. But, should they be illegal? Thats a very complex question and not one that can be answered by "MOAR REGULATION!" demands.

Lying for financial gain is generally illegal. That's what fraud is.

If the dealer lied about the car while selling it, then in theory the buyer can successfully sue for damages. In practice it's likely to be hard to prove.

Awesome, and just as soon as a long-term financial instrument is as clear and unambiguous as a 2014 4WD Subaru versus a 1994 Porsche 911 (at least the 993 series had air cooling, which should work well in a cold climate), I'll be right alongside you.

thats exactly my point. even the most baroque, complex financial instruments are arguably simpler than the mechanics of even a basic internal combustion engine. but, due to cultural issues people are far more educated about the mechanics of an automobile than they are about financial products.

Ok so with profits funds is as simple as a basic two stroke IC engine with 3 moving parts not sure I buy your line

And the 933 is not going to lose several thousand dollars in value the moment you drive it of the dealers lot.

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