-- Posted Friday, 26 June 2009 | | Source: GoldSeek.com
By R. D. Bradshaw
The Goldsmiths, Part XXIX, addressed the inflation problem and how the American public is lied to and deceived by the government statisticians who compile the Consumer and Producer Price Indices. One of the tactics used by this dishonest and deceptive crowd is to claim that price increases are due to qualitative improvements. In this reasoning, if something goes up, the government merely claims that the price increase was due to improvements in the product and not inflation.
For the last year, since the Rothschild Cabal launched its program of trying to deflate the US economy before we reach the hyperinflationary stage of a catastrophic blow off, we have been bombarded with reports of inflation going down to almost zero. The latest CPI figurers were even allegedly in the negative territory.
Of course, the controlled media hypes these stories up. Many Americans actually come to believe them; though they are nothing but lies and deception. In the last few days I have been exposed to one particularly incredible level of deception on this issue which is worthy of pointing out to readers of the Goldsmiths.
The Backdrop on a Product from Wal-Mart
Like other retailers, Wal-Mart sells some dairy digestive supplements in its vitamin and supplement products. One product which I have bought and used for years was one carrying the Wal-Mart brand label “Equate.” As most readers know, many manufacturers and producers of products sell their products with packaging using their own brand names. Thus, if you trade with a Western Family, IGA, Safeway or some other food chain, you will find their labels on generic products that are really all the same but with the only difference being the labels.
So Wal-Mart and some other retailers sold a particular lactose enzyme supplement with the difference being the labels. The Wal-Mart product was called Equate while some other retailer chain would name the exact same item with its own brand name.
For years now, Wal-Mart sold these Equate supplements in a small plastic container holding 120 tablets, then packaged in a small box—which, per the label, was enough tablets for 40 uses. With the local sales tax, I bought these tablets for the last couple of years at $7.73 per container. So, the other day I went into a Wal-Mart to buy some of these filled containers to stock up. But was I surprised because I found out that Wal-Mart no longer distributes these precise containers.
Instead the store had the exact same product in a new container with the same brand name. The new container box was three times larger in size but containing only 60 tablets. Another curious difference was the fact that while earlier the tablets were all merely loose in the bottle; they each were individually sealed in a small plastic envelope in the new box container. Thus, I found that the product was exactly the same as those I had been buying. But the difference was a minor change in packaging; and instead of 120 tablets, I was to receive only 60 tables at the exact same price.
Knowing how high the cost of packaging is, my guess is that one of these 60-tablet containers probably cost as much as the old 120-count containers. Now, why would Wal-Mart make this change? Well, some would argue that the individually wrapped tablets were somehow better than the old unwrapped ones simply in the bottle. But knowing the dangers of plastics, I cannot believe that that this change benefited the buyers. Instead, I would suggest that the users will ultimately suffer on the downside in health.
So, again, why would Wal-Mart make this change which could upset some customers—like me? Well, it should not take a genius to understand at once that Wal-Mart users of this product will have to double their purchases. Instead of one purchase lasting for 40 uses, it will now require two purchases of the exact same product to last 40 uses. In other words, Wal-Mart will double its sales and profits on this one item.
By the way, Rite Aid sells the exact same product with the old 120-count bottles under its brand name. Accordingly, I have started buying them from Rite Aid.
Another Example
I make regular use of a small hot plate to do my cooking on. But these things wear out; and I have to buy a new one every year or so. Years ago, I could buy one for $4, then later $5, then later $6, then later $7, and then later $9. Last fall, in 2008, I went to several different retailers tying to find the old style hot plate I usually buy. I couldn’t find one of the old ones at all. Instead, all of the retail chains I went to now have the same plate enclosed with a metal enclosure to ostensibly improve the appearance but now costing around $20 each.
The Bottom Line
Many years ago, I took a course on auditing at the University of Oklahoma. The professor was not only qualified academically but he had had some years of experience in the field in the auditing of businesses. In one of the early class sessions, he outlined the approved approach in pricing in our capitalist society. It is simple—you price things as much as the traffic will bear.
Knowing the profound pressures of inflation and how the public reacts adversely with price increases, producers, wholesalers and retailers have had to frequently adopt deceptive and dishonest methods to maintain and/or improve their income statements. The examples above demonstrate their ingenuity.
The amazing thing about this skullduggery and dishonesty is that the pressures of inflation are present and growing to make sellers constantly evaluate their products, prices and profit margins. They generally all operate under the prevailing pricing practices in businesses—as much as the traffic will bear. In order to avoid a consumer back lash, some businesses employ the above strategy with the hopes that the so-called idea of quality improvement will pacify and satisfy buyers and users.
While the thing with the hot plate happened a year ago, the digesting tablets at Wal-Mart occurred just a few days ago. This means that despite all the hype about falling prices and a deflating economy, prices continue to go up. The deceptive and dishonest crooks who compile the CPI will march into stores and actually claim that there have been qualitative improvements in these products. Therefore, America has little or no inflation, per these crooks.
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Back issues of the Goldsmiths, by the editor of the Analysis of News, can be accessed from a Google or Yahoo search engine by typing in “R. D. Bradshaw” Goldsmiths. Several hundred web sites can be found with the back issues and with translations to Spanish, Italian, German, Chinese, Dutch, Polish and other foreign languages. Finally, the “Archives-Goldsmiths” of this website (www.analysis-news.com ) has all of the Goldsmith articles issued to date.
Besides the revelations contained in the Goldsmiths’ articles, the work of the plutocratic financial market manipulators to conspiratorially manipulate and control the financial markets (to make more profits and install a world government under their management) is also addressed at length in the periodic analysis of the news and in other articles produced at www.analysis-news.com. This website has an article of interest to any person interested in understanding the market Manipulators. It is the Hidden Secret of the Manipulators, why they succeed and how to follow their manipulations.
Readers of the above articles are invited to visit www.analysis-news.com and become a subscriber to regularly read some of the material from the world of information which will further reveal how extensive the manipulation, control and dishonesty realities are in the financial, currency and commodity markets, not only in the US but indeed around the world. To go to the home page of this website, please click at the link here: www.analysis-news.com.
-- Posted Friday, 26 June 2009 | Digg This Article
| Source: GoldSeek.com
