Word: stricting
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...actually assign a lot of blame for our recent troubles on a lack of interest-rate caps - that is, on the absence of strict usury laws. Why? Almost every state had usury laws in the 1920s, and they were circumvented one by one. Prohibitions against excessive interest started to disappear [South Dakota, for instance, loosened its laws in 1980], and once they did, the credit-card companies recognized a wonderful opportunity. They could charge as much as the market would bear, claiming that they had to charge more for bad credit risks. You can argue that's the democratization...
...maybe there are some people who just shouldn't have access to credit? I think everyone should have access to credit in a very strict proportion to their income - not a future projection of their income, which is what we've been doing. It's been, "I'm now making $50,000, but in a few years I'll be making $150,000, so no big deal, let's go buy an expensive house now." This whole business of giving more credit than a person can service is not only foolish, but if you tried to do that...
...resulted in an ETA that is, by all accounts, at its weakest in its history. The arrests of several high-ranking leaders in 2008, as well as the roughly 750 etarras (ETA members) currently serving prison sentences, have shattered the hierarchy and structure of the group's once strict commando system, forcing it to rely more heavily on ill-trained legales (mercenaries hired to carried out its attacks). (Read "The Fall of Spain's Most Wanted...
Among a dozen likely protesters interviewed in Tehran, most of whom were recent university students, the picture that emerged was one of intense dissatisfaction with the theocratic regime, a system forcing its strict religious codes on a progressively more secular youth population. But many of them do not desire regime change or welcome the violence that would surround such a revolution. Many recall that their parents suffered through such chaos in the run-up to the 1979 Islamic revolution (coincidentally fueled by gatherings commemorating the 40-day anniversaries of those killed in street clashes). Nor do today's young protesters...
...today attacked a mosque filled with Islamist militants, killing scores of fighters and forcing more to flee. The militants, blamed for days of violence across the country's north, belong to a group known as Boko Haram, which aims to overthrow the federal government in Abuja and impose a strict version of Islamic law. The sect's leader Mohammed Yusuf escaped the raid along with some 300 of his men, but was later arrested and then died in custody according to police. Four days of clashes, sparked by attacks on police stations and government buildings, have killed at least...