Trump continues to back aluminum and steel tariffs despite Republican fears

[Benton]

(03-09-2018, 09:55 PM)Dill Wrote: In a free market, shouldn't one of these car makers at least look for a competitive edge by lowering prices just that much?

Or is it that they just can't let go of the higher price no matter what, like one of those coconut monkey traps with peanuts inside. Monkey can slip his hand in the hole, but cant pull it out with a fistful of peanuts. And won't let go of the peanuts, even if it means he's monkey soup.



Or is the a gentleman's agreement between competitors not to do that?

A few years ago my former employer called me in to let me know that prices were going up 25% on copy sales, 20% on advertising rates. No exceptions. When I argued we'd lose at least 15% of our readers and about 20% of our advertisers, the corporate guys said 'don't worry about it — you'll have to lose 25% of your readers to notice the drop and just increase rates 25% to make up for the loss in accounts.'

That was the answer. Not keeping more customers, just setting rates high enough to get a 10-15% overall increase in profit over the previous year.

Ford, Chevy, etc isn't concerned with Bob Smith in Dayton being able to buy a moderately priced $12,000 car on his $30,000 a year salary. Not when the profit margin is much better on John Smith buying an over priced $60,000 SUV that costs nearly the same to manufacture.