This is CBS, I in the World, I'm John Batcheler.

The Business of America's Small Business,

and I welcome Jean Marks, a small business

columnist for the Guardian newspaper, UK and US

edition, as well as the Philadelphia Inquirer, our hometown newspaper

and other distinguished publications, Gene gets on the road and listens very carefully to business in America. He's just back from listening

to pawnbrokers. pawnbrokers in Las Vegas sounds like the setup of a thriller of a movie, but, Jean, welcome back, you've been on the road,

the pawnbrokers see both sides of the equation, when people are short of money and they want to sell something and then the pawnbrokers

have to price it to sell it to a new person.

What did you learn from talking to them?

Good evening to Eugene.

Hi John, first of all, not. Hi, John.

First of all, not many people really understand the pun-broking industry and how it works.

I mean, it's a finance industry.

It's very heavily dependent on interest rates.

It is an industry that, industry that remember somebody is is taking an

asset into pawn as it is. They're they're really giving it in as

collateral and getting a loan based on that collateral.

Some people think they just sell it outright,

but that doesn't all the time happen.

The loan itself has interest rates that are quite high,

but then again, the pawnbroker has got to negotiate interest rates that they're making

...