Friday Morning Links

• Big banks financing payday lenders.  Wells Fargo and JPMorgan Chase among those large banks that are financing payday lenders.  Many payday lenders would not exist without this financing. The payday lender industry sometimes has loans charging effective annual interest rates of over 400%.  Yes, 400% annual interest rates on loans.  I wonder if Mr. Warren Buffett is very proud of himself as a large shareholder in Wells Fargo.  A great piece of journalism from Nathaniel Popper of Los Angeles Times.
• President Obama soon to take some action on Elizabeth Warren and the CFPB (Consumer Financial Protection Bureau).  At first glance this looks like a half-ass move, but we're reserving judgement for later.  From Bloomberg
• Zach Carter of AlterNet on the Basel III rules for banks.  He argues the new rules are very weak and don't do enough.
• European Union (EU) taking moves to protect markets from the dangers of Naked short-selling and derivatives.  Michael Greenberger, a professor at the University of Maryland sees this as a positive move for European markets.  It should make EU markets much safer, and the loss in liquidity is very small. From Bloomberg
• Import prices rise 0.6% for August.  This was a surprise and higher than the roughly 0.3% forecast.  From Bloomberg
• FASB addressing Mark-To-Market issue.  American Bankers Association freaks out because their ugly, fat, grotesque, nude body will be exposed.  From ZeroHedge
• Getting money from SIPC after stock brokerage scams has sometimes proved difficult.  From Kathy Kristof of the Los Angeles Times
• Ben Affleck's new movie "The Town" looks super cool in the trailers.  A "heist film" set in Boston. I am getting juiced to see this one.  Movie Review and some video from LA Times.
• Our Female Vision of The Day.  Leighton Meester: Here and here.  Not very familiar with her acting, but she is sexy and I like the clothes.  From celebrity-gossip.net