The Man Has A Goal

I swear, it's almost like Gov. Mark Sanford (R-SC) is on a mission to be the biggest asshole in the GOP.

Gov. Mark Sanford issued a veto Tuesday to a much-debated payday lending bill that various lawmakers had described as the most important issue to come before the General Assembly this year.

For two years, lawmakers wrangled in heated, emotional debate over the concept of placing greater restrictions on payday lenders, finally reaching a breakthrough on the last day of the 2009 General Assembly session.

Payday lenders, lawmakers and various consumer advocate groups finally came to terms on the legislation, marking the first new regulations to be put on the $155 million-a-year industry in South Carolina since its 1998 startup.

But Sanford said the new regulations violate his commitment to free market principles.

“There are a number of people who I admire tremendously who I know I will disappoint with this veto,” Sanford wrote in a three-page letter explaining his decision, “but it is my hope that in time they see my consistency in pushing for limited government and maximized individual freedom. ...”

Yes, including the freedom to have to pay $15 on every $100 borrowed in two weeks and then getting trapped in a spiral of penalty fees and having to take out loans to pay the fees on the loans you can't pay the fees on.

See, Sanford's just looking out for his unemployed constituents.

But let's not kid ourselves about what the opinion is about people who take payday loans in SC: they're all black people on welfare. Check the comments in the article, like this one:

Many of these people are the dregs of society who could not possibly borrow money any place else due to their poor behavior and character.

And so legalized loan sharking is all "these people" deserve.