Facing South: 12/22/04

[Charles Brown <cbrown@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

>INSTITUTE INDEX * Holidays in Hock

>Percent of Wal-Mart shoppers that do not have a bank account: 20

Hell's bells!  Can this be true?  Assuming it is, that's absolutely
frightening.  People who don't have a bank account almost by definition
don't have a credit card and are thus shifting consumption between periods
at a discount rate in the high 80%s at least.  I am utterly amazed that a
major company like Walmart can be so dependent on this market
segment.

^^^^^

CB: What is " shifting consumption between periods at a discount rate in the
high 80's" mean , if I might ask ?




^^^^^^^^

The comparable figure for the UK is like 7% of benefit recipients not having
a bank account and I would by no means be wanting to say that we didn't have
quite a serious loan shark problem.

dd