"When I was growing up, the Metro [Tyne and Wear's light rail network] didn't even link Sunderland to Newcastle, and even now, if you miss the last one it's an extortionate £30 taxi journey home".
Rather than pay extortionate sums to private landlords to shelter those in need of emergency accommodation, it's setting up a property company to buy and do up homes.
It is possible to have sympathy with plumbers and builders and electricians and decorators who struggle in a competitive environment now that times are leaner, while remembering how impossible and extortionate it had become to employ such tradespeople at the start of the millennium.
It is simply not acceptable for suppliers to overcharge people on top of the extortionate bills they are already paying.
She added: "Rail privatisation has become characterised by poor services, cramped trains and extortionate fares.
2. Duped into Debt: Extortionate amounts of money are taken for hidden costs without the tenant knowing, such as fees for a tenancy inspection which the landlords "forget" to tell tenants about, immediately putting people into arrears.
But private renting is extortionate".
Western luxury-goods firms may be able to tolerate extortionate rents for central locations.
To augment their supply they must buy water, of dubious quality and at extortionate prices, from a well-connected water mafia.In fiery June residents of Sangam Vihar, a poor suburb of south Delhi, rioted after getting no water for two weeks.
Vlad Shmunis, the firm's Ukraine-born founder, says it wanted to be near another big university that could be a source of smart employees.Soaring salaries and extortionate rents in big tech centres encourage start-ups to hire elsewhere.
Perhaps the extortionate fees are not all bad.
