Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Poverty Industry making mega bucks in Gateway City


Location of Loan companies in Laredo: Sure enough, this graphic supports exactly what I saw!

Earlier this morning, as I drove Eastbound on Chihuahua street, I couldn't help but once again notice just how thriving the "Poverty Industry" is in Laredo. The following businesses could all be found within a 3 block area near the Bartlett Street intersection:

A gold-buying business

About 7 or 8 loan or "finance" shops

At least one Pawn Shop

About 2 Tax preparation/refund advance (loan) places

A couple more Payday loan shops

and, in the event all these exploitative predatory businesses still don't manage to help people get out of their financial predicaments, there was at least one other business for those who find themselves resorting to more desperate measures:

A bail-bonding business just in case.

All of these are thriving so its clear that they are getting their fair share of "business".  It's also no mystery why so many of these predatory enterprises are visited upon the South Side, albeit I've also seen them a bit farther North towards GucciLand.  With their high visibility, the lure of patronizing such places is obviously too tempting to many Laredoans. 

Some things I did not see in the same area:  Health care facilities, literacy promoting agencies, employment /temporary staffing agencies, recreation/athletic centers nor a police-substation. No wonder there's a mounting movement against greed.

5 comments:

  1. So are you saying that Laredoans are poor and people exploit that same sense of poverty?

    Let's call Anderson Cooper!

    And, sweet Gucciland reference.

    ReplyDelete
  2. many are poor and many-er are exploiters. TSK TSK.

    Max

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  3. Name TEN things that politicians have done in the past 50 years to help the people of Laredo.

    ReplyDelete
  4. please warn people that companies that "fix" your credit are borderline fraudulent.

    the only way to "fix" your credit is to find out who is reporting a debt you owe, negotiate with them to reduce the amount, pay it, and then like magic your credit improves.

    you can't pay to improve your credit score, unless you pay your creditors!

    ReplyDelete
  5. That's exactly what I've heard as well. Whatever those companies can do- you can do for yourself. And yes, pay off creditors would be the best way to go of course.

    ReplyDelete