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Originally Posted by iggy_oi
I figure that because the fact is they are capable of it(see your next paragraph) they simply aren't obligated to do it. I hope you're at least willing to acknowledge that much.
How are businesses coming up with their cost increases if it is so complicated to figure out? We will likely never agree philosophically on a number of things related to this, but I can't really understand why people only care about price increases when they can point their finger at the government for it. There have been a number of announced increases by companies to cover their addedd costs, but while everyone is so up in arms about the increase, they don't question how that company came up with their numbers. It's made even more interesting since many on here have been beating the drum that we can't possibly predict how much this will cost.
If a product or service goes up a dollar in price and that company blames it on the carbon tax, how do we as consumers know if that increase needed to be that much? If that increase only needed to be $0.25-$0.50 to maintain their bottom line and the rest is being added by choice because that company feels it will still be a competitive enough price for their business and they can simply tell consumers it's because of the carbon tax, is it really all on the carbon tax? It's their right to charge what they want to charge, but the fact that consumers aren't given all the data on both sides will always leave questions as to the legitimacy of how much businesses claim these types of taxes will affect our prices.
This isn't about propaganda, it's about transparency, wouldn't you prefer to know exactly how much this is going to cause prices to go up, if it's as bad as some have feared then it would help make a case to repeal it, and to fight the Feds on their plan for it. If it's effect is really not as drastic as people have feared, then I guess everyone who's panicking would be spared their anxiety? What's the downside to knowing as much about the increases as possible?
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If I were a business, why would it be my responsibility to make sure consumers/citizens are well off? A business is not a human being. It's there to employ people and to make money for the owner(s).
Since businesses are there to make money, of course they will pass along every increase they can, and then some, if the market can bear it. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that. It's the government's job to make sure business aren't operating in monopoly fashion or abusing workers.
Lastly, why would a business freely give away their cost breakdowns for all their competitors to see? That is a ridiculous notion. Unless its a publicly traded company, they have no obligation to share anything. Nor should they.