I think late stage capitalism might be here. I think we can pull it back, but one thing that might need to happen is get to a point where mergers/acquisitions a

I think late stage capitalism might be here. I think we can pull it back, but one thing that might need to happen is get to a point where mergers/acquisitions are extremely hard to do or impossible. If we had thousands of smaller companies that find and fill their niche, they can adapt quickly to change and keep prices low because they are constantly competing with 30 other companies. As soon as you allow for a mega corp to gobble up 40% of the market, you find out quickly that another 40% is at dinner with them deciding on next years prices together. Two years in a row now I walked into ABC Supply (a roofing supply company). They printed out letters from Malarkey, GAF, Owens Corning and a few others and taped them up on a board. The words are almost identical in stating that this year on April 1 they will have a price increase between 7 and 10 percent. Keep in mind that NONE of these companies are depending on Chinese materials, and share no parent company. But together they own 100% of the local market. Their prices are within $5 a square of each other. No matter which roof you chose, you're paying the same price. The people at ABC are sick of my joke I always tell them: "I guess price fixing is no longer illegal!" I'll try to get a picture of this board on Monday and post it here.