for what we might call the payday ethos. This ethos posits that if there are people out there who desperately need money, one can and should deploy advanced technology to exploit them; its most visible expression can be found in the rise of “earned wage access” programs, whereby employers contract with third-party companies like DailyPay and EarnIn to advance workers a percentage of their forthcoming paycheck. (EarnIn also does Dave-style payday loans, although, to its credit, it has consistently refused to approve me for one.) These earned wage access apps, per the National Consumer Law Center, “extract over $300 a year in fees from employees and as much as $1,400 over two years.”