2024-09-30 11:16:00
An economic study shows that the last year is the best time to buy something. Comedian Marty Allen said it with the certainty that is typical of humor, and it doesn’t matter if he was referring to another nation or if he mentioned it decades ago: this is what is happening right now in Artemisa and in Cuba on length.
Most prices rise despite logic, even when sellers have met the regulation in relation to certain products. And I declare this because, true, the production is low and the supply is insufficient, but like other times: prices rise with no other motivation than the time and ambition of the merchants.
They move like hostages in a spiral where only speculation reigns. So, some people blame others for the rise, farmers, MSMEs, bricklayers, transporters, car mechanics… In a conversation with a pedicab driver, he no longer even appealed to the costs of tires or repairs, but rather that’s the author of his rate with the useful argument of How much should you pay when you go to buy food, rice, oil, chicken…
-That’s why I have to raise the price, he told me.
-And whose price has been raised by someone who works for a salary I answered. Who makes the teacher, the doctor, the journalist, the telephone operator, the secretary, the football player…?
The chain is broken at the weakest link, those who work in the budgeted state sector and receive a fixed salary. They cannot protect themselves from the speculative spiral, not by raising the prices of their classes, diagnoses, reports or home runs.
And that is why such “defense” cannot be accepted. It may be ideal to appeal to ethics and sentiment, but sellers must have some people left in them, even deep down; They must understand that not everyone has to raise prices, and not everyone abandons their profession, even if many do.
Nor do I suggest that it is the only moral solution. Governments must participate in setting prices where necessary, and reach agreements based on reasonable profit margins including real costs. And inspectors must ensure compliance.
It is not about witch-hunting, or stopping enterprises or stalking them with unhealthy vigilance; It is enough to organize a race without brakes, one that applies profit margins unimaginable in the rest of the world.
Across our borders, such margins amount to 35%. Even Elon Musk would not imagine hundreds like those of our MSMEs and self-employed workers. And, although the reasons are very different and whatever they collect will not end up in anyone’s pocket, but will be redistributed among everyone, state stores will also have to readjust obsolete and exasperating prices.
It will be appropriate to teach private business owners the old adage “be cheaper, shopper, and you’ll make more money.” It will be fair to ask them how much a pensioner, university student, person is worth. It will be relevant to insist on how they think the teacher or doctor will protect themselves: what price will they raise?
#raise #price