“Live below your means.” & “Pay yourself first.”

I buy most of my clothes at the thrift stores for pennies on the dollar. Bought my 30MPG Nissan ten years old at a fair price (then donated my 20 year old 26MPG Toyota to charity).
Nuthin’ wrong with that!
8^)

“Genius economist” is therefore, an oxymoron.

While I wouldn’t have believed it normally, my dad actually spent a lot of time on Ebay while he was out of work for 2 years. He didn’t make enough to make a living, he was able to turn products around and sometimes make a few hundred dollars a week. Again, not enough to make a living, but it’s a nice supplemental income, or a nice way to make a few extra bucks while out of work.

So I agree with everyone who says that this is sort of an underground economy in our country.

“This is not about downsizing. It’s about needing gas money,”

I’d be willing to bet that in many cases it’s a vanity thing. . .folks who refuse to part with their prize lifted F-250 or Suburban in favor of something that gets reasonable mileage. Of course, some people do have it legitimately rough, to be sure. That’s nothing new either though.

Doesn’t anybody see the other side of the coin? It’s not just people who are willing to sell ’cause they need money — it’s also people who have READY CASH to pay. Plug that into the equation.

My husband mostly looks for tools and things for his hobby auto and machine shop. He sees plenty of people with plenty of cash to fork over. Other than high gas prices and food going higher, we’re just not seeing a big bad hit on people’s pocketbooks in this cash-on-the-barrelhead economy that very few bean counters bother to notice and which is thriving right under the noses of all the smart economists.

I don’t know, but I just don’t think that an increase of people listing things to sell is a portent of doom. They will find their match in cash buyers as the economy rights itself. That is if (Lord save us) the government doesn’t start regulating this aspect of our lives too.

I’ve been doing those things for years. In my case, it has nothing to do with the current economic situation. I just like to find good deals and rare items.

I think the point of this post is less about trashing the pawn shop industry, and more about the apparently endemic financial irresponsibility that’s lead to the recent “subprime crisis” and the Bear Stearns debacle.

Or would you rather make everything as bureaucratic as possible, rather than “Sir, this watch is worth 200 dollars – that means that you can have a 200 dollar loan. You don’t pay it back in time, we keep the watch. Are we agreed? Then sign here and here are your 200 bucks”. What is there to dislike about such a system? Personally I’ve never used a pawn shop but if I needed a smallish amount of cash to I would be glad to have the option of using one, rather than having to go visit the bank manager or ask friends or family.

Besides it’s not like pawn shops are advertising on American Idol. this is G4 we’re talking about, the local ad rates aren’t going to be that high.

In terms of the Inquirer article, it goes against every standard metric that we’re seeing in Philadelphia right now. This is on e of the few cities that hasn’t been hit by the sub-prime mortgage problem too badly. An interview with one pawn shop owner in a wealthy area of town (gee, you think that my be why his clients are middle class?) and two interviews with patrons does not make a trend. The article oozes with liberal humanism, but never cites any metrics other than the ambigious rising gas and food. Yeesh.

Only to BUY things at bargain prices. We had been saving for over a year to buy a cargo trailer. We got one for a steal at a pawn shop.

Right now I’m in the process of getting rid of old comic books, and it’s a matter of room as much as cash. *shrug* It’s almost an underground economy.