Quote Originally Posted by The Bedlington Terrier View Post
I wondered how long it would take for it all to be Labour's fault. I've just been sent to the ASDA to buy some butter. A normal carton of Anchor spreadable butter set me back £5.50. I suppose that's Labour's fault too?
No it is not, BT.

I think that there is significant profiteering going on. Although I am fundamentally a capitalist, it sickens me that companies rape and pillage at will. I saw an add on TV the other day where one of the supermarkets chains in Britain claimed a “price check against Aldi”. That assumes that Aldi, Waitrose, Tesco, Asda and so on never talk to each other and don’t act in tandem. Aldi sets a price that includes a substantial profit margin so no one is losing out. Aldi is not operating at a loss!

There is no value in a company chasing the price to the bottom.

It is the same, or worse, in Switzerland. We have two major chains - Coop and Migros. Their prices are exhorbitant. A weekly shop for two people is around £300. In France, it is about one third of that. Yet everyone celebrates when Coop and Migros announce obscene profits every year. Work that one out.

There is a dark side to capitalism and society needs to address that, but not by nationalisation.

It always amazes me that, when the price of oil goes up, garages immediately put up prices even though they are selling petrol bought three month’s forward. Yet when the price of oil falls, the price at the pump takes weeks to fall back and rarely returns to the original price.

How is that acceptable?