Profiteering or not.?

[Brian Gaff]

I think things have changed mainly because big companies can afford loss leaders and bigger adverts than the smaller outlets. I can remember when I bought my first hi fi, I had to go to a small shop, Then the big manufacturers came in seeing there was money to be made and persuaded big shops to take their products. You went to the small shop got all the listening done, and then went around the corner to a box shifter and bought it 10% cheaper, and then, oh dear, the small retailer went down, but the box shifter did not of course. Now its very hard to find a real hi fi or indeed any tech product seller since the likes of PC World-Curry's etc just do it sale or return, just like Amazon do, yes the online addition has meant you cannot find as many box shifters either. As for cartels, they are often run by the makers these days, who seem to have preferred outlets. I mean if they won't supply you unless you agree certain terms, it does not matter if you are a Tesco or jo bloggs foods.

Brian

[Andrew]

ROFL. That's exactly what goes on in the Lords and HoC. Senior civil servants in any dept that spends a lot of taxpayers money always end up on the payroll of the same companies that they were supposed to be exercising due diligence over in their previous job.

[Joe]

There are only two options: default, and really high, orders of magnitude, inflation. To realistically pay off the debt, the dollar needs to lose at least 99% of its value.

The difficulty with the first option is that they would not be able to continue borrowing, which kills their business model, and with the second that they would go on borrowing the same kind of money in real terms, but using currency with a very much lower value. Hence even with inflation, the debt would continue to increase in real terms.

So, inflation of a couple of orders of magnitude coupled with an

*immediate* end to deficit spending. How is that going to work? How is that going to play with what used to be an electorate?

We can see the end of the road down which the can has been kicked for so many decades. And to a somewhat lesser extent, the UK is in the same position.

[Rod Speed]

Brian Gaff [e-mail] wrote

Yes.

Not convinced about that tho now that its all electronic.

I made mine, design from one of the electronic mags.

Don't believe that they exist.

[Rod Speed]

Bullshit on the always.