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Old 06-19-2008, 06:55 PM   #33
Flames in 07
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Join Date: Aug 2006
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Bobblehead View Post
In a competitive market companies can't gouge unless there is collusion - if they raise by 2% and their competition only raises the .5% then they will be 1.5% more expensive and lose customers to the cheaper alternative. If it is a monopolistic situation then they will do what is best for their bottom line (MR=MC)
That may read well in a text book, but very few things that are a textbook definition of competitive. There are barriers to starting large energy producing companies, capital being the second largest and skill sets being the largest.

The 2 large impacts I see here is deterring investment in Canada and hiking up the cost of energy and everything that needs energy ... ie everything.

The personal tax reduction is a populist move that people who don't understand economics will eat up and think it's the big old companies that are being harmed by the tax.
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