Payday Loans Continue to Help Americans Out of Financial Binds

The cable market

Payday loans are showing no signs of slowing down in popularity as the economy continues to wreak havoc on the buying public. One of the hardest hit industries on the American public is the cable industry. Everyone has seen their cable prices go up and experience lackluster customer service, outages and skyrocketing monthly bills. The truth is that there are a wide variety of things your cable company will never share with you.

1. The cable market's competition is counterproductive to bringing down costs. Although it was thought that new entrants into the cable arena would bring lower prices for customers, this never happened. Instead of new entrants, there were mergers and acquisitions and higher costs for cable overall.
2. The most popular channels are divided into tiers on purpose. Packages are strategically chosen to bring in the most money. For example, Senior counsel at Consumers Union Chris Murray said, "Only a portion of subscribers watch ESPN…ESPN gets paid a certain amount for every subscriber, so the customer ends up subsidizing content he doesn't watch."
3. Bundled services are costing more. Although initially bundles may save money, the introductory rates rarely last. Normally introductory rates are only for a year, sometimes only a 6-month period. Cable, telephone and internet bundles are marketed as "triple play packages", but their costs can be complex and mislead the consumer.
4. Cable companies can control internet file sharing. Testing proved that file sharing is blocked by Comcast in some instances. Although a spokesperson stated that they do not "block access to any web sites or online applications, including peer-to-peer services," experts say otherwise. For example, the BitTorrent competes directly with Comcast's video service, which experts suggest is why the cable company does not allow it to be used.
5. Cable power lines are going up everywhere. Although cable companies have invested billions in infrastructure, other aspects are going unmanned. Fiber-optic cables are littering communities, sometimes hanging well below utility and phone lines. Utility and phone lines, by the way, are much less obtrusive.
6. Cable prices are rising exponentially. From 1995 to 2005, just ten years, cable prices almost doubled. There was no great improvement in service or channel selection to justify such a rise. It's expected to continue since now cable companies are bundling services such as telephone, cable and hi-speed internet and charging extra. As hi-speed reaches its optimum, expect to see that cost tacked onto bills leaving consumers to scramble for extra cash. Borrowing, payday loans, and cut backs in other areas are going to need to be used by consumers as cable prices steadily increase.
7. Cable companies are experts at justifying rate increases. Upgrades of service, programming costs, expansion, and inflation are all used as excuses for those pricing hikes. One critic states, "if increased programming costs was the whole story then cable companies should let TV viewers who want new programming buy it and pay for it, rather than having the programming fall on the backs of all consumers."

America wants cable

In the end, regardless of the pay structure, Americans want cable service. With few choices in most markets, consumers have proven that they will take out payday loans to pay for cable bills. They will stretch their budgets to fund the cost of cable TV. They will somehow, some way make it work. It's this unrepentant demand that gives the cable companies their power and allows them to hide the real truth from the American public. ... click here to read the rest of the article titled "Payday Loans Continue to Help Americans Out of Financial Binds"