It’s dawning on people that when the competition between businesses isn’t strong, firms can raise their prices by more than the increase in their costs, and so fatten their profit margins. What’s yet to dawn is that weak competition also allows businesses to pay their workers less than they should.
Source: Wage growth stagnation: Why concentration of market power might be to blame
A capitalist economy wouldn’t work as well as it does were entrepreneurs not always trying new ways to increase their profits. The trouble is that not all the ways they try are of benefit to the rest of us, not just themselves and their shareholders. In such cases, governments should not shirk their responsibility to act in the interests of the many not the few. Nor should we fear that, unless we give businesses free rein in their pursuit of higher profits, our business people will lose all interest in running businesses.
Source: Long way to go before the Australian economy is more equal
So, the Australian Bureau of Statistics told us this week, the rate of unemployment fell a click to 5.6 per cent in July. Trouble is, most people know the official unemployment rate understates the extent of the problem.
Source: The truth of the matter about the extent of our unemployment problem
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