Gee, ya think?

This pisses me off.

I mean, they have known about the ludicrous prices of food here for YEARS, and now they think there might be a problem?
They think maybe there's not enough competition? DUH!
That maybe the grocery stores charge too much? DUH!
The fact is that there are only really about three companies that own all the "different" grocery stores, and they can charge whatever they want.
They don't have any competition because no other companies WANT to come sell groceries in Norway. The duties are too damn high and there is no choice here! There is a dairy monopoly, a poultry monopoly, a wine monopoly.....who CAN compete? (The government owns the dairy and the wine monopolies, I am not sure about the poultry one.)

Jesus, how thick headed do you have to be?????

"Duh. Mr. Government Minister, prices on food seem high and there is no choice in the grocery stores. Maybe we should investigate?" GAH!!!!! Prices are high because all these poor Norwegians have been gouged for years and are just used to it. That's all there is to it. Why make prices lower when you know you can get folks to pay, just by coordinating with your "competition" to make sure they stay high? The richest people in Norway are, you guessed it, the grocery store owners.

I can't WAIT until Norway joins the EU (though I won't be here) so I can watch this absurd economy face the real world fair market competition it has managed to avoid up until now. Boy that will be fun.