An end to boom and bust

[davywavy]

Sauntering through Stevenage town centre this morning, I couldn't help but notice that a new pawn/loans/cashforgold shop has opened up next to the bus station. This is the fourth within a radius of about 100 yards in the town centre. When I started David Inc. back in 2004 there was only one.

It struck me as interesting that - thanks to the promised end of boom and bust - the town high street has gone from being the place where people buy their possessions to the place where they sell them.

Comments

[twicedead.livejournal.com]

I'm more scared by the rise of the "pay day loan" websites. They seem like a way of really hammering the poor and desperate.

[davywavy.livejournal.com]

Those are indeed evil.

Have you read the Ascent of Money by Neil Ferguson? Some interesting stuff in there about how lack of access to sensibly priced and risked credit networks is a great way of ensuring the poor stay that way.

[(Anonymous)]

What astonishes me is that these blatant usurers are allowed to advertise on TV and even sponsor things, including sport when sound, useful concerns like breweries can't. Flog the lot of 'em, that's what I say, or possibly drown them in molten nickel.

[zenicurean.livejournal.com]

I don't recall if Ferguson specfically mentions this -- he talks at length about a loan shark from Glasgow, I remember that much -- but the very excellent microlending businesses in some parts of India and Africa, designed to provide precisely such sensibly priced credit, seem to have something of an intrinsic economic limitation: They are on average compelled to extract startlingly high interest rates to stay in business, seeing as some significant percentage of the poor clients just keep defaulting.

[davywavy.livejournal.com]

He does indeed say that; I only finished reading the book a week or two ago so I'm pretty confident in my memory at this point.

[davegodfrey.livejournal.com]

You don't need ultra-fast broadband. Just a phoneline. And even broadband is pretty cheap- less than the electricity to run the computer if you're on a key meter.

[davegodfrey.livejournal.com]

Given the prevalence of online-only job applications I disagree. And phonelines aren't really a luxury item in the modern society, which is all you need.

Even subscription TV isn't that expensive. £40 quid for broadband, cable and telephone. I'm probably not even on the cheapest/fastest/best service contract I could be on either.

Of course you end up tied into contracts, and And isn't the point of using the usurers so that you have the cash to pay these sorts of bills? (And then more cash to pay the other usurers, and so on.)

[matgb]

I think you're overestimating the costs and underestimating the benefits of having internet access if you're poor by a massive degree here.

For a start, you can get a Blackberry on contract with some internet access for £9 per month. That's cheaper than a BT landline. No phone=no job prospects, simple as.

[(Anonymous)]

Rubbish. Attractive Romanian ladies can get hourly paid work just standing on street corners. They don't even need much by way of clothing.

[matgb]

Virgin, got a leaflet through the door last week.

[matgb]

Nah, that's just greater convenience, there were pay day loan services way before the bust kicked in, and they can be useful.

I've used one-fixed penalty notice, pay in two weeks it's £40, or pay in two months and it's £80, or go to court.

Which would you do if you'd not got £40 spare, borrow on, say, Wonga, at a cost of £20, or wait until payday when you can afford the £80?

Exactly what does David, Inc. do?

[davywavy.livejournal.com]

As little as possible! Ha! Ha! Ha!

[matgb]

Yup-we go into CEX a lot as we like cheap games and stuff. There's always a queue. It's always because lots of people are selling. OK, lots of people buy games, play them, sell them for credit and buy a new(er) game, but still.

OTOH, the price of gold is going through the roof, so it's perhaps not surprising that people wanting to buy gold cheap are more prevalent.

[davywavy.livejournal.com]

Gold may well keep going up, but silver is the baby. Oh, yeah.

[davywavy.livejournal.com]

They will see the gold and/or the money, but the rates paid will be low - usually about 10- 15% lower than the spot price.