[Leanan]

Hmm. I'd say it's borderline. We try to keep the front page articles strictly energy-related, and this article has only passing mention of gas prices.

It is very interesting, though. The usually milktoast Parade is calling for people to vote on the issue of prices, including gas prices.

[Barbara]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/wisc/20060421/lo_wisc/3414742

Arkansas: http://www.thehometownchannel.com/news/ ... etail.html
California: http://cbs13.com/topstories/local_story_115192107.html
Arizona: http://www.kold.com/Global/story.asp?S= ... v=menu86_1
Florida: http://www.firstcoastnews.com/money/new ... ryid=56356
Luisiana: http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/2692146.html

... and so on: http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&ned=u ... earch+News

So when do you think people will switch to bycicle/public transport? After they've sold their kids to sex traffickers?

[bruin]

The message here is that people believe prices will go back down.

If you believed prices are going to stay forever high, then you would change your ways instead of a temporary fix.

Sad thing is, I'd bet most of these pawn shop items are not even paid off yet on their credit cards.

[Grimnir]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('bruin', 'I')f you believed prices are going to stay forever high, then you would change your ways instead of a temporary fix.

[bruin]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Laughs_Last', 'W')hen I heard about this on NPR, it got me thinking. Hey, I should go to a pawnshop some time and see if people are bringing in the kind of stuff I want. I’ve never been in a pawnshop before, so it could be interesting. But now I wonder should I instead save my money in order to break into the lucrative child slave trade?

Joking aside, are pawnshops just electric guitars and bling, or do people bring in useful stuff like chain saws? And what should I expect for prices compared to retail? If I took something into a pawn shop, what percent of its value would I get?

[Leanan]

There are a couple of other threads on this topic. One of them mentioned that people are pawning things they need for their jobs. For example, a landscaper pawned one of his lawnmowers - for gas money so he could drive his kids to school. A veterinarian pawned some of his medical equipment.

[ThunderSnow]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('bruin', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Laughs_Last', '
')Joking aside, are pawnshops just electric guitars and bling, or do people bring in useful stuff like chain saws? And what should I expect for prices compared to retail? If I took something into a pawn shop, what percent of its value would I get?

[Zardoz]

Posted on the front page by Carrie:


Blood Donations for Gas Money

Jesus Almighty Christ, what are people going to be doing when it hits five bucks a gallon? What's next, body parts? How much gas could you get for the price of a healthy kidney?

[Cobra_Strike]

I would like to get a GOOD chainsaw, one that was built from a metal frame. No more of todays designed to break in half with light use saws. Buying solidly build older style systems is a good idea, and there is a discount over retail...I buy DVD's there, easy to get a fistful for the price of even a single one retail.

Go...visit one. They are great places, were people sell off their ill got gains...and get deeper into debt. Profit from others misery.

[untothislast]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Zardoz', 'P')osted on the front page by Carrie: Blood Donations for Gas Money Jesus Almighty Christ, what are people going to be doing when it hits five bucks a gallon? What's next, body parts? How much gas could you get for the price of a healthy kidney?

[Grimnir]

I had a woman from up the street randomly knock on my door yesterday and ask for $3 gas money so she could pick up her son.

If she's already resorting to door-to-door begging, what's she going to do when/if things get really bad?

[Leanan]

Wow. That's scary.

Did you give her the money?

[Grimnir]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Leanan', 'D')id you give her the money?

[SoothSayer]

Yes, money changed hands,

Stupid, stupid, stupid ....

[Leanan]

Hey, you never know. The "social capital" you earned by giving her money to pick up her kid might come in handy when TSHTF.

[fireplaceguy]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Leanan', 'H')ey, you never know. The "social capital" you earned by giving her money to pick up her kid might come in handy when TSHTF.

[Leanan]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('fireplaceguy', ' ') Face it - if she doesn't have the gas to pick up her kid today she'll never be an asset if TSHTF.

[Zardoz]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('fireplaceguy', '.')..Don't let her see you carrying cases of canned goods into your house...

[TheDude]

Picked this up at Mish:

Booming pawnshop business

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '"')People are cleaning out their houses of gold, silver, whatever, to get money just to fill their cars with gas," said Nat Leonard, 51, whose grandfather opened Society Hill in 1929. "People are pawning out like crazy." "I've got business owners coming in to pawn things just to make their payrolls," Leonard said, incredulous. "I've never seen that before."

"Upper-income people are in pawnshops nowadays, needing money right away to meet payments," said Bill Stull, chairman of the department of economics at Temple University's Fox School of Business and Management.

"We are in an economy in which many people are living right at the margins, even middle- and upper-income people. They have little savings, they've borrowed so much, their credit-card bills are high, and their house values are going down."

[Revi]

I definitely see it around here. I was in a pawnshop recently, and I couldn't believe the number of people coming in to sell stuff.

Lots of people showed up with furniture, jewelery and all sorts of things in the short time that I was in there.

The people who were in there weren't the typical pawn shop denizens. They needed money not for drugs or booze, but to keep the car filled up and food on their tables.