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My bad, your government is a total croc not giving a chance to people who want to operate a pawnshops business. In my country there are many pawnshops left and right. The government benefits taxes, but it's for the people.
Gold will become unreachable to some after the price rise. Yes, those who can afford it for them is a good investment.
I agree, as the price of gold continues to rise, it may become out of reach for some people. However, for those who can afford it, investing in gold can be a smart decision.
Yes, only for those who have that purchasing capacity.
Another mishap of my country is monopoly in various sectors (in any way, we must take in account that private monopoly is very much worse than public monopoly, as a corrupted private company easily starts to steal from citizens, sending them bills that skyrocketed with no apparent reason), including pawnshops.
Probably, your grandmother's purpose is exactly what you said: selling her jewels when she needs money, once the price of the same jewel increased too much.
That's a scary thing billed from a private company without knowledge of the owner the cause or origin of such bill. It's a scary thing.
Monopoly in any sector is detrimental to the economy and to consumers. When a single company controls a market, they have the power to set prices as high as they want, without fear of competition driving them down. This can lead to exploitation of consumers and unfair practices.
In fact, there are tons of trials against the water supply company, that took the monopoly from the government. When the government was in charge of the water supply, all worked very well. Now, the people wait anxiously for the failure of that fraudster water supply private company. It should fail cause the countless trials. The pawnshops business monopoly is nothing compared to the monopoly of water and electricity.
There was also a monopoly here too , on our water system but it was made short when the city government ordered the private operator to quit.
The people here are also cooperating. There are many brave citizens here and the matter is always brought on the Facebook court that alarms the city government officials.
When private companies, driven by profit motives, take over such essential services, it can lead to concerns about mismanagement or missuse of those services if not kept strict check upon them in regular basis.
I've heard in many favelas, residents enjoy lower living costs and autonomy, which can be appealing compared to the high costs associated with formal housing. Community ties are also often strong in these neighborhoods.
While there are advantages like lower living costs and strong community ties, the issues you mentioned can seriously impact residents quality of life.
