I guess the question has to be asked, thinker 2.

>>lack of regulatory checks and balances is an encouragement for unethical behavior.<<

While that is true as a generalization, do you have anything specific in mind, as far as regulation is concerned?

A government "watchdog" on prices has never worked, in any circumstances. Anywhere. Ever. In fact it has been used as a means to legitimize price increases across an entire segment, as a form of sanctioned monopoly.

So what else - short of Ludwig's centralization of the means of production - can be done?

But it sounds as though you have something specific in mind:

>>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.<<

How can they do this. Seriously. I'm intrigued.

>>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.<<

Only if they act in concert, thinker 2, which is already illegal. Otherwise, there are plenty of their competitors who are willing to do business at realistic prices.

>>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.<<

My business, I can assure you, is controlled by me. Decisions are made by me. And they are all in my control.

Except for government red tape, which is a genuine pain.

But maybe you have real examples that we can use as a basis for discussion - at the moment it's all a bit mysterious.

thinker 2
So what about when many businesses hold 'post Christmas sales' and often slash prices by 50% or more.

Now I have no problem with having a 'set price' all year round but, don't expect businesses to keep their prices steady in these exceptional times and then drop them for sales.

Prawns are a prime example.

Christmas week they sell for as much as $40 per kilo, (supply and demand) whereas, they often sell for $15 kilo in off peak times.

Now take pork. Pork prices rise (wholesale) each week from about early November up until Christmas week as the demand is so high.

Now as for fuel, well we all know these guys are simply crooks and our ACCC is a 'toothless tiger'. Some things will never change.

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

Not at all Pericles. Obviously I want the sort of regulatory regime that will lead to vibrant healthy retail trade, that will help prevent retailers from being ripped off, sold substandard stock, being extorted, defamed or undercut by big competitors to the point of making them non-viable, etc, etc

I mean, how could we possibly have a healthy business environment without a vigorous rule of law??

Of course there will always be conjecture as to just what are good rules and what aren’t, and we’ll always have the complications of some rules being good some people and bad for others. But you seem to be arguing for a minimalist regulatory regime, which would surely work against small retailers.

continued

Scenario:

You, a small retailer, wants to buy stock for the Christmas period. You are told by the wholesaler that you have to buy in bulk if you want to get it at a reasonable price, or a small amount at a much higher an unviable price. You are forced to buy far more than you want, because there is no regulation preventing this.

You find that some of the stock is damaged. You try to return it and get your money back. But of course you are told to get stuffed.

The argument that you have leads to the wholesaler defaming you because he has decided that he wants to drive you out of business.

He’s got friends who pay you a visit, do a bit of damage, make you look very bad to your customers, and on top of that, extort you.

Then there is a shop just down the road that can sell the same sort of stuff that you are selling at a considerably cheaper price, because it is owned by the wholesaler’s brother.

Etc etc. You get the picture.

Many small businesses have a got a lot to worry about over the Christmas period, as you point out. So they certainly don’t need extra worries. They need to have confidence that the law will protect them to reasonable extent.

Again obviously, a good regulatory regime is all-important.

I am a little tired of excuses from business. They hire casual, part time. They rort when they can. Then they blame business risk. Business is risky. Yet that risk is for skilled business owners to take on and manage. All we are doing is allowing bad management practise flourish by allowing the risk to taken on by consumer and staff instead of the proprietor.

Possibly Ludwig's business incompetence is the cause of his hatred of the free market.

"A fool and his money are soon parted"

Regulatory regimes almost always increase prices. The difference is that they will be a uniform increase.

The increase in casual jobs is probably due to the increase regulation of work places under labor.