nickshanagher

Local retailers may have some sympathy with independent operators of tied pubs, where the publican has to buy beer at prices set by the company from whom they have leased their business, after government regulators decided not to change their industry. CAMRA, a consumer group with more than 100,000 beer drinking members, had complained to the Office of Fair Trading that the market was rigged against their interests, pointing at the way that tied pubs were controlled. The OFT, in finding against CAMRA's complaint, in part used the Alan Greenspan defence that it thought pub-owning companies would not operate strategies that would compromise its commercial position. If it was not true for Wall Street banks, must it be true for pubcos? At the same time, in the USA, the American Booksellers Association has written to the government asking for it to investigate predatory pricing by Walmart, Target and Amazon. New hardback best sellers listed at $25 to $35 are being sold at $8.98 to $9...