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Clawg

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Probe says 'too few supermarkets', the reports says more competition is needed in some areas

A revamp of the planning system to allow more supermarkets to open in some areas of the UK has been called for by the Competition Commission.

In its preliminary report it suggests forcing supermarkets to sell land they own in areas where there are not enough different chains of retailers.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7070488.stm

"It certainly looks like anti-competitive behaviour on a magnificent scale" :(

That's why I don't like those 'free-market' people that call themselves 'capitalists'.

Edited by Clawg
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Am I the only person in the UK who sees the great irony in having a government agency, which regulates competition - to make it 'more competitive'?

This thing is all part of a wider issue here though, about Farmers and Supermarkets. Farmers feel that Supermarkets are ask for too low price for their produce, to the extent that Farmers are often selling at a loss. This doesn't quite make sense to me. A farmer can refuse to sell his products at any time, so why did they ever agree to start selling their stuff at a loss in the first place... and why do they continue to do it?! They blame supermarkets for being 'greedy' and for wanting as much as they can get for as little a price as possible, but the farmer is the supplier, and while he can lose business to someone who is willing to sell at a lower price, there is no reason that price should drop to the point that he's not actually making a profit.

I got into an argument over this with someone, and eventually I came to the conclusion that it must just be the great abundance of food stuffs. We can produce tons of meat and dairy products and wheat with comparatively little effort. We produce way more than we need - it's an over-saturated market (especially in the fatty foods sector; pun intended). Even further, we're dealing with a world market, where it isn't an issue to import food stuffs from half-way round the world, so that cheap milk and bacon can be imported all the way from New Zealand.

It seems they were of the same opinion I have discovered with many people, not just here, but in other countries (such as Norway), which is that one's country needs to be self-sufficient (i.e. should have protectionist policies which encourage only home-grown businesses to thrive, and to sell their products only to other home-grown businesses). I explained that protectionist policies always fail in the long run, to which the response was, "Perhaps, but a little sacrifice is necessary, if we're to protect the pride in the great British countryside".

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In other words, a supermarket group is typically sitting on a precious piece of land near an existing store and doing nothing much with it, largely to prevent a competitor building on it.

If they changed that policy, how long would it take for them to get blamed for "defiling pristine land" ? Mr. Peston gives us a hint in his concluding paragraph:

[The commission] thinks the UK could benefit from having a load more superstores. Not everyone will concur. Do you?
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