"Tony Harding" > wrote in message
...

> The so called magic of the market is supposed to see to the best prices
> for the buyers (ref. Adam Smith & the like), but that has little to do
> with real world prices in the 21st century IMHO.

I don't think Adam Smith would agree with your assertion, at least if you
mean the best price is the lowest price for you. I think even Mr. Smith
understood things were a lot more complicated than that. And very few
current markets are truly free markets or even truly competitive. All tire
makers try to distinguish their brands and create the opinion (fact or
illusion) that their particular brand of tires are inherently more valuable.
If all tires of a given size and type truly were identical and there were no
marketing impediments, then you might have a free market but this does not
guarantee that you would get the lowest possible price. A manufacturer might
decide that they would rather sell fewer tires at a higher price in order to
maximize their profits. They might induce you to pay more by creating the
illusion that there tires were better (even if they were not) or by
providing superior service, or because they had outlets more convenient than
a competitor that charges less.

Ed