Smaller Cars Enjoy New Chic

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/27/AR2005092701812.html

I thought this was an interesting article, because it showed how gas prices are affecting the united states. The demand for SUV's is dropping significantly, because people are looking for smaller, more fuel-efficient vehicles. The gas prices have become so high, that many people would rather buy smaller cars, and spend less on gas. This could potentially cause a lot of damage to some states, especially those who suffer severe winter climates (wisconsin for example), because people will be buying smaller cars to save money, but will be forced to drive these cars during the crappy winter weather, which could potentially raise the amount of accidents in these states.

Choclate Firms Raided over Price-fixing Claims

Link: http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/consumer_goods/article3349415.ece

This article is about the German Federal Cartel Office raiding seven companies, including Nestle, Mars, Kraft, and Ritter because of a suspected collusion on price rises. It appeared that all of the companies had between a 10 to 12 percent all within a few weeks of each other.

The cause of this price rise was claimed to be becasue of an increase in the price of cocoa and nuts. It seems to me that this price rise is very likely, because as prices of ingredients go up, companies are going to be forced to raise the prices of their products. Therefore, as one company was forced to raise their price, it probably forced the other companies to raise their prices as well.