Loan shark Beware lenders using the words “cash advance” instead of “loan” in documents. This is designed to avoid usury laws and licensing requirements. Consumer laws protect individuals from being fleeced. But there’s no help for firms who borrow under deals which unfairly enrich the lender Guessed the Word? Series 42 (2/8) …
Category: L
Lent Spring-time fasts (Lent) and feasts (Mothering Sunday) offer business opportunities. Hot cross buns remain Britain’s most popular seasonal bake since medieval times (5th to 15th c), although the cross was originally slashed into the dough, rather than piped on. Simnel cake, with 11 marzipan balls on top, links to when folks made a pilgrimage…
Leave In UK & US, poverty has flipped from Reason to Leave to Reason Not to Leave,despite widening opportunity gap between dynamic & struggling areas. Should policymakers re-vitalise poor areas? Or incentivize people to move? Fewer Americans moved States in 2017 than in any of the previous 50 years Guessed the Word? …
Luck We under-estimate the role of luck in business success. From good to great needs luck, to be in the right place at the right time. Exceptional success occurs in rare circumstances, so lessons drawn from the 2nd best are more informative & offer better proof of skill/ effort. Good luck in 2019! Guessed the Word? …
Licence Members of an occupation love licences as they keep others out. 1 in 5 UK workers – twice as many as 15 years ago – now needs a permit from government to do their job, including security guards, art therapists, social workers. Are they any better than they were? Work life is tied up…
Lithium Light, conductive & with other electrical properties, lithium is vital for electric vehicle, laptop & smartphonebatteries.1/2 the world’s deposits of this rare, valuable metal are in Chile. Large reserves also in Cornwall, UK. Price has surged from £1,900 ($2,470) a tonne in 2002 to £12,750 ($16,500) now. World produces 220,000 tonnes a year. Demand…
Luxury A luxury as recently as 1950, chicken now accounts for 1/2 the meat eaten in the UK, & has overtaken beef, lamb & pork. Average Briton eats 23kg a year. Birds bred quickly in sheds for meat/ protein (not for eggs) reduced prices, so poultry is no longer just for the wealthy Guessed the Word? …
Lost EU’s Galileo is costing €10bn over 15 years – needless alternative to the American GPS system, which is free to consumers. Who’s paying? Guessed the Word? Series 23 (2/8) [pic: jamie-street]
Longevity Consumers now value sustainability, simplicity, longevity. ‘Planned obsolescence’ doesn’t work when they want to build and keep a relationship with the product/ service provider. Back to the future Guessed the Word? Series 20 (6/6) [pic: Royal Enfield]
Laffer curve An optimum tax rate maximises tax revenue – Arthur Laffer, 1979. Above that rate, no more revenue is gained (and may even fall), as tax avoidance, disincentive to work and “brain drain” impoverish the rich & the poor Guessed the Word? Series 20 (2/6) [pic: Michael Gaida]