The more dominant Woolworths and Coles become in the market, the faster the prices accelerate.
Well, it goes on and on.
And no change in Government appears
as if it's going to make any difference.
The Federal Government have given
people 900 dollars here, 2000 dollars there.
Some people before Christmas got cheques
of 10,000 dollars.
A lot of it went in grog.
Figures from the Bureau of Statistics
show that retail sales in liquor stores surged a massive 14 per cent over the
Christmas period compared to last year.
And in the month of January this
year, as compared to January last year, expenditure on liquor increased by over
100 million dollars around the nation.
That is a 100 million dollar increase
in expenditure on liquor in the month of January alone.
So, this should be a great time to be in the liquor retail business.
But 13 bottle shops in
In other words, small businesses being driven out of business and their staff sent into unemployment queues.
Those people who wish to continue to stick their head in the sand about what I call the Woolworths effect will claim that this is just part of the economic climate and the downturn in the market.
There is no downturn in the market when it comes to liquor sales.
A 100 million dollar increase in liquor expenditure in the month of January compared to January last year.
Yet 13 independent bottle shops driven to ruin and bankruptcy.
The reason is simple.
The failure of the Trade Practices Act, which allows the evil of anti-competitive price discrimination, a practice whereby small businesses are unfairly discriminated against and forced to pay higher prices for their goods without any economic justification.
So what's happening every day around the nation is a truck loads up from a brewery and delivers a pallet of beer to a Woolworths liquor outlet.
The same truck then delivers the same quantity of the same beer to an independent liquor outlet across the road, but the independent pays up to 25 per cent more.
And this economic absurdity is played out around the nation.
Independents are discriminated against to such an extent by the breweries that they are paying a higher price for their beer than what Woolworths and Coles are retailing it for.
But here we've got a Competition and Consumer Commission, we've got a government, we've got political promises and nothing happens.
In the past four years Woolworths and Coles have increased their market share in liquor retailing from 32 per cent to 52 per cent.
Just by eliminating the competition with anti-competitive practices that are illegal in the majority of developed countries.
Of course the apologists say this is vigorous competition, that Woolworths and Coles are just being highly competitive.
This is voodoo economics.
A myth that is swallowed hook, line and sinker by governments across the country who are frightened of offending big business, and by media outlets who of course rely on significant income streams from Woolworths and Coles, witness the full page advertisements taken out by Woolworths and Coles or their subsidiaries in newspapers every other day.
The statistics tell the story.
Since the year 2000 the CPI has increased by 32 per cent.
Prices generally have increased by 32 per cent.
But in liquor, where Woolworths and Coles have supposedly increased competition, since the year 2000 the price of spirits has jumped by 50 per cent and beer prices have gone up by 53 per cent.
In other words, the price of all goods goes up 32 per cent.
But where Woolworths and Coles have increased their dominance in liquor retailing, the price of spirits has increased by 50 per cent and the price of beer by 53 per cent.
Just like in groceries, the more dominant Woolworths and Coles become in the market, the faster the prices accelerate, damaging the national economy and undermining economic prosperity.
A fact completely lost on those in
So it's jobs, jobs, jobs, is it.
Tell that to the workers in 13 liquor
stores in
Government stands by and does
nothing.
