Welcome to an Australian Christmas of profiteering.

Prepare to pay more for petrol/fuel, food, liquor, presents etc as Australian Businesses big and small routinely lift their margins in sync with the holiday season and each other. Corporations such as banks, supermarkets, petrol distributers, travel providers etc will all most likely find a way to gouge your pocket this christmas. Banks for example have already risen the interest rate on your credit card pre-christmas without any need for justification for such increases. Legally in Australia today '"post Howard/Costello", they are not required to have a reason.

My local corporate liquor outlet increased the prices of many items in their store by 10-15% today. This is many times the rate of inflation and this is possible because there is no requirement by seller to observe a maximum recommended retail price.

Competition is the saviour they say, but real competition is mythical in Australia today when one considers the petrol companies raising and lowering the price of fuel in precise unison, supermarkets crushing competitors with predatory pricing then whacking up the prices, big banks swallowing smaller ones, mining giants merging, telco and privatized utility monopolies etc.

The absence of adequate regulatory protection for end consumers is the very driver of anti-competitive behavior and needs urgent and dramatic repair. Profit itself is not a dirty word, but unbridled profit for profits sake is dangerous and will ultimately result in a lowering of living standards for most people.

All too true, thinker 2. Like I said yesterday in another thread, the free market is a crock of crap!
http://forum.onlineopinion.com.au/thread.asp?article=9755#156817

My old mate Col Rouge won’t like it, but we most definitely need a much more socialistic regime in Australia, with much better government control and regulatory protection.

It is crystal clear that you don't run a retail business, thinker 2.

The Christmas period is a most hazardous and expensive time of year.

First of all, you have to make some pretty risky guesses, as to the volume of customers to expect, and the amount of goods they will buy.

The customer estimate will dictate the number of staff you need to employ. If you get it wrong, on any given day over the entire period, with too few you will either lose potential business (and have some very annoyed customers), with too many you pay over the odds compared with the till takings.

Guessing how much people will spend, and on what lines, is your second nightmare. If you assume that they will ignore the GFC and splash out, you could be left with expensive unsold stock - worst, of course, if that stock is perishable. If you assume they will all keep their wallets closed, you could have empty shelves - and staff hanging around - on the two busiest pre-Christmas shopping days.

Then there's the problem with your Bank Manager. He is going to use the GFC excuse to rate you a far higher risk than previously, and charge you an arm and a leg for your overdraft.

No-one is looking for your sympathy, of course. But you'd be pretty annoyed if you went Christmas shopping and found nothing on the shelves, wouldn't you?

Which it would appear is Ludwig's objective.

The more government control you exert on the retail trade, Ludwig, the emptier the shelves will be.

If you disagree, give me a scenario where this is not the case.

Thanks for discussion Pericles and Ludwig ,

I was remarking that profit for profit sake at an unbridled or unchecked level was socially and economically unhealthy.

I do have some understanding of business Pericles, and I'm suggesting that lack of regulatory checks and balances is an encouragement for unethical behavior. Encouragement in fact for crooks who can act and think like crooks and be legitimate in business at the same time. Possibly and most probably rendering your small business uncompetitive as we speak. This is not the best system for even your future Pericles.

Your suppliers can whack up the price you pay (as a small business) and can without justification or the attachment or relativity to their costs increase yours. This can be driven by a management decision to to increase their margin. Unbridled profit I repeat.

I also mentioned the opportunity for the big to swallow the small.

If your referring to small business, then your business is controlled ultimately by corporate power somewhere along the line. The decision regarding the capacity/viability of a small business to trade is effectively is made elsewhere; beyond the control of the small business operator.

In a democracy, the people (supposedly) have a chance to decide "what is fair and what isn't"?. If they are presented with the right questions by someone who actually is attempting to achieve the greater good, then progress may be possible.

If the decisions for the future are to be made by the corporate few, and not by the consensus of the inhabitants of this earth, can we at least make sure that the right people are doing the right thing and making the right decisions at the right time and are not motivated by self interest alone

Pericles

Been there done that, However, our existed by virtue of holiday shopping.

One bad Christmas made the rest of the year a struggle.

So I guess it depends on what retail you were in.

Most people go into business to make money. A lesser number do it to provide a service. If a business makes money due to demand than so be it. To make money by way of extortion is crook. Misappropriation (Crime) most certainly is the most profitable of all due to backing by incompetent government.