5, 4, 3, 2, 1, Go .... Up!

From October, the price of rice will be more than what its now. Yes, it's going up like the price for fuel, which had triggered off the whole cost locomotion.

Meanwhile there are complaints that sugar is being sold beyond the ceiling price to small bakeries, smuggled out of the country, and sold on the black market since a month ago.

And isn’t it wonderful that five grocers from Ipoh, Cameron Highlands, Kuala Kangsar, Kampar and Sungai Siput have been found to be hoarding sugar? Two of the grocers have been fined while the others are being investigated under the Control of Supply Act 1961.

Grocers normally make money by selling stuff. We must ask ourselves why would they hoard things which is equivalent to not wanting to sell.

Indeed why would they be dabbling in the black market or hoarding?

The plain truth is because government controlled price is not realistic and causing traders to lose money. So they are resorting to survival tactics. And that’s what traders do.

Now, another piece of evidence in unrealistic and indeed unreasonable government price control has been seen in sugar manufacturers in Perlis and Kedah cutting down production by half since last month.

Ask ourselves who's the main culprit for this covert tactic?

When the government sets an unrealistic artificially low price for its own political protection, by forcing traders to absorb the losses, the black market thrives. So keep flogging the traders until morale improves.

And when it rains, it certainly pours, because the price of gas is also going up. Petronas has asked the government for a hike. I heard there's currently a 50% subsidy in gas so one may only wonder how much it'll go up.

So we have or will have prices of fuel, electricity, rice, sugar, gas all gone or going up, which means transportation cost will rise even higher, which means the prices of all goods would follow rapidly behind, including and especially our teh tarik.

Soon Malaysia won’t require the Russians to send our Bolehnauts into space, because we in Malaysia can make them rise as well, even into space.

Related:
(1) 2nd-hand Teh Tarik
(2) 2nd-hand Teh Tarik back again?