Business Channel 2006-12-05&07

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It's a shocking figure. Many Americans living paycheck to paycheck depend on those so-called two-week loans to stay financially afloat. But a study released by the Center for Responsible Lending found that borrowers may be sinking further into debt and faster than they realize.

It says payday lenders pocket a whopping 4.2 billion dollars in excess fees every year. And this doesn't seem all that surprising when you hear this. These loans, Richard, can carry interest rates up to 400 percent.

Ok, I'm closing up shop here; I wanna become a payday lender. I'll, I'll talk to you later. You know, I mean...

I know. You are, yeah, you are far too nice, a person to do it. Because, you know, they just start, I mean, taking advantage of people.

They do, and, and you know, is it, anybody doing anything about this?

Well, here's the thing. These loans are really hurting more than helping¹ most borrowers. The CRL study found rolling over one loan to pay off another one, well the average payday borrower pays back 793 dollars (yeah) for a $325 loan. Now eleven states, absolutely, don't allow payday lending at all. And some consumer interest groups as well as some members of Congress really want the, to make sure that they can extend that to all of the States, Richard.

Now, well, best to all those who do use that, and hopeful that does go through. Let's move to some of the big players in satellite radio moving to the small screen?

Oh. Listen to this one, Sirius Satellite Radio is serious about entering a world of television in your car. Sirius CEO Mel Karmazin says that the mobile video would likely be available in some 2008 model autos. The company has hinted at a move like this for several years, saying that a possible launch would depend more on what the automakers wanted rather than what Sirius was capable of. And by the way, this is not meant for the driver. It's meant for the kids in the backseat. Richard

Oh, all they got to take care of the kids. What's good for the goose is good for the gander. And what about the competition?

Oh, well, these larger rival, for example, XM Radio is the large rival and has spoken of a possible nationwide broadcast of live television to cars in the past. But it's waiting for signs of a significant market before they invest. The price for the Sirius's TV service hasn't been announced. But there would be a fee on top of the 13-dollar monthly radio subscription².

Now let me give you a look at the markets, because what a day it was on Wall Street. Stocks ended broadly lower, after a pair of reports raised more concerns about how much the economy is actually slowing.

The manufacturing sector³ contracted sharply for the first time in more than 3 years. And construction spending in October tumbled by the largest amount since the 2001 recession.

The Dow Industrials fell 27 points. That represents a quarter of a percent loss while the NASDAQ Composite was down three-quarters of a percent, the S&P 500 resulted nearly a third of a percent.

We also heard today from the Big Three automakers, GM and Chrysler reported respectable November sales increases, while Ford⁴ sales declined. And that marks the second time, this year Ford has yielded that No.2 spot to Toyota.



What's good for the goose is good for the gander.
What is good for a man is equally good for a woman; or, what a man can have or do, so can a woman have or do.