Business Is Booming! (For Pawn Shops)
Hey hobos! If you are looking for some Golden Ameros to replace your lost I-banking wages, or your lost 401(k), or your lost home, look no farther than your local pawn shop! They can give you all the money that the banks can't, now that the banks don't have any money.
Look, here are some numbers that prove, conclusively, the only thriving business in America is the one that will pay you cash in exchange for your gold teeth:
First Cash Financial Services recently announced it was shutting down its auto lending division so it could focus on its pawn shops. Their profits rose by 26 percent in Q1 and 39 percent in Q2.
Cash America International said their Q2 08 profits were 52 percent higher than Q2 07. And they expect their third-quarter results to be up another 13 to 20 percent.
One pawn shop in Massachusetts gets as many as 200 people a day coming in "to sell all their stuff so they can get gas money" or "pay their mortgages."
Well, there you have it, America! While the Fed bails out Wall Street and John McCain offers capital gains tax cuts to people with no capital gains to tax, your friendly neighborhood pawn shop will still spot you a 20 in exchange for your bicycle (or your dignity).