I'm not sure which country you live in but in my country in the United Kingdom our local high streets are rapidly declining. So many local shops and services have now sadly closed their doors permanently. This is playing out in many countries across the globe, particularly in the Western world.
It really is a tragedy to witness these once bustling epicentres of human engagement and social activity reduced to a place that resembles something nearing a scene from an apocalyptic sci-fi film. All that is now left is a trail of coffee shops and charity outlets.
It didn't need to be this way. Many point to the advent of the internet as the reason for the demise of local high streets. There can be no doubt that the internet has had a profound impact on the trade of goods and services, which in turn has reduced footfall in local shops. I am not trying to deny that. But in this world there is room for both a thriving local trade and online shopping. So what's happened? Why do our high streets now resemble shadows of their former selves?
There is only one reason that explains the erosion of high streets and local independent traders and that reason is deliberate engineering. Had local authorities and central governments wanted both online and local trading to thrive they could have done so. Instead they have permitted the rise of huge corporations and banks to crush small traders and flush them out of town. It has all been by design.
I support the principle of free market capitalism in theory, so long as there are checks and balances and the playing field is an even one. But as we have seen capitalist free markets have been wholly corrupted and manipulated by the few elites that exist. The playing field is nowhere near a fair and balanced one.
When it comes to groceries we have witnessed the rise of supermarkets which were accepted as something new and exciting offering cheaper goods when they first arrived on the scene. Once again the generation known as Boomers welcomed these giant companies and corporations with open arms, almost singing their praises as they graced the aisles with a spring in their step plonking all manner of cheaper produce into their trolleys and baskets.
This of course meant it became more difficult for smaller independent local business to keep up with supermarket prices. They were not in a position to buy in huge bulk like supermarkets can do. It also meant they couldn't negotiate better deals with suppliers. Their technological capabilities were not as good as their big business competitors.
One by one local high street shops disappeared. Grocers, bakers, butchers, green grocers, cobblers and tailors to name a few started to vanish. Even local newsagents and bottle shops couldn't keep up with the big boys so they folded also. So not only have we lost so much from our once thriving high streets we also now have to contend with a handful of supermarket giants dominating the scene who are in a unique position to control the sector and most importantly control prices. They now have us exactly where they wanted us all along.
Supermarkets can now control the entire market. They've done it. And together in cartel, as they have been doing already, their prices will simply keep going up way beyond the rate of inflation. And they can do this simply because they can, and no other reason. No one will stop them now. Over here we have government funded organisations like the Office for Fair Trading, which will simply sit back and permit the destruction.
So for those Boomers who had it good for a long time I do hope they got as much cheap fish fingers and tinned spam shovelled into their kitchens as they could. They sewed the seeds of one part of the financial misery that was later to come which we would all suffer from, and they didn't.
But hey at least Boomers were short sighted enough to save some pennies back then and leave the inevitable problems for their kids generation to deal with. Such a wonderful and considerate group of people. Got to love them.
Peace!