[Mirioron]

You can buy a car without knowing anything about cars. You can buy a house without knowing anything about them. Do you think the seller is being unethical in these cases too? Particularly when you're buying the car from a manufacturer or the house from a large broker. What about selling a computer to somebody that is computer illiterate?

I agree that what the banks are doing is very likely unethical, but I think your generalization about the bigger guy having more responsibility doesn't always hold.

The other problem is that people will generally say that they understand even if they don't. Maybe a mandatory class on basic finance and economics would be a good idea.

[analog31]

Cars and houses are both heavily regulated for the exact reason of information asymmetry. Markets appear to have regulated computers, but I don't know if that can be generalized to other kinds of products.

I agree that schools should teach about personal finance. My son was assigned a paper to write on the payday loan business, and it was pretty eye-opening for him.

[paulddraper]

> Cars and houses are both heavily regulated for the exact reason of information asymmetry.

Not really. I've bought and sold houses and cars while knowing relatively little.

The real difference between cars, houses, and educations is that the first two are collateral and lenders do due diligence to avoid foreclosure.

Educations can't be forclosed on -- there is no collateral, and relatedly the loans are non-dischargable.