This is extremely funny and very clever on several levels: as social criticism, as political rhetoric, and as a parody of current fads in website design. I have no idea who’s really behind it.
One thought on ““the predatory lending association””
mooredp
Peter:
Thanks for posting this. See here for info. The quote below is from the link.
“But maybe the coolest thing about the site is its genesis. The Predatory Lending Association is the second project conceived and executed by Front Seat Management, a startup founded by ex-Microsoftie Mike Mathieu along with two other self described techies, Matt Lerner and Jesse Kocher. (The first project was Walk Score, a Google mashup that lets users calculate the “walkability” of their neighborhoods.)
Lerner, a former Microsoft project manager, told me that both projects should be seen “as a form of philanthropy.” Mathieu and Lerner aren’t the first Microsoft alums to dedicate themselves to social change, but as far as I know, judging by the PLA Web site, they might be the funniest.
“Mathieu made a lot of money last year,” said Lerner, “and he wanted to start applying it to some type of social purpose. Mike is a very funny guy — he has progressive values, but also a very dark, competitive streak. We thought it would be twisted to really use free market rhetoric against payday loans, as a way of demonstrating how as a society, converting short-term financial pain into long–term financial pains isn’t good for our citizens.”
Peter:
Thanks for posting this. See here for info. The quote below is from the link.
http://tinyurl.com/2c7p49
“But maybe the coolest thing about the site is its genesis. The Predatory Lending Association is the second project conceived and executed by Front Seat Management, a startup founded by ex-Microsoftie Mike Mathieu along with two other self described techies, Matt Lerner and Jesse Kocher. (The first project was Walk Score, a Google mashup that lets users calculate the “walkability” of their neighborhoods.)
Lerner, a former Microsoft project manager, told me that both projects should be seen “as a form of philanthropy.” Mathieu and Lerner aren’t the first Microsoft alums to dedicate themselves to social change, but as far as I know, judging by the PLA Web site, they might be the funniest.
“Mathieu made a lot of money last year,” said Lerner, “and he wanted to start applying it to some type of social purpose. Mike is a very funny guy — he has progressive values, but also a very dark, competitive streak. We thought it would be twisted to really use free market rhetoric against payday loans, as a way of demonstrating how as a society, converting short-term financial pain into long–term financial pains isn’t good for our citizens.”