This is the third and final part in series on price controls in Bermuda

The Government should immediately enforce, with a suitable deterrent monetary penalty and/or criminal sanctions and on pain of incarceration of directors, etc, any and all violations and breaches of the law and regulations of its price control and competition law regimes.

It should also mandate a list of goods, services, products and medications that are in scope of the price controls regime and ensure that these price control listings are enforced in the 18 major entities, in particular grocery stores, island-wide.

A reasonable price for these goods should be struck and monitored for any justifiable or periodic “tweaks” up or further down in these price ceilings. Quotas, based on sound objective data, and from data of the establishment itself, should be struck and set aside, and monitored over time by each outlet and government personnel as well.

For example, if a given grocery shop, from its own historical records, understands that it must supply a particular government-established quota of a 100-unit “basket of goods and services” at a certain fixed price for that basket of goods, then that basket of goods must be supplied at that price and at that quota, Island-wide, until further notice from government, on its own volition or upon reasonable request of any impacted grocer.

Any similar basket outside of that mandated quota, may, with government approval, be sold at the discretionary price of that individual grocery shop owner. It is among the latter group of buyers that those merchants may make their “mega-profits”.

Bermuda is far too small and compact a society, and too technologically advanced, to speak of merchants being confused, frustrated or overwhelmed by having to complete timely administrative tasks.

As such, the administration of matters of alleged or outright feigned unintended consequences may easily be investigated and worked out in relatively short order.

Feigned unintended consequences must be punished severely by having “licences to operate” revoked, in addition to any fines and/or incarceration imposed on the offenders. Methinks though that these merchants “protest too much”.

Finally, if these merchants and others continue to push back then, apart from heavily penalising and/or imprisoning them, the Government must embark upon an initiative to encourage investors to invest in these industries Island-wide, or incentivise other banking and financial institutions to set up in Bermuda on favourable terms and conditions.

The Government, too, more immediately, must encourage in addition to the new development in Marginal Wharf in St David’s of a grocery outlet, more such outlets to “come online” in Bermuda island-wide.

The Government may achieve this objective by, for example, the granting of incentives of duty and import relief, wharfage and custom fee discounts, waivers or forgiveness or forbearance agreements of one kind or the other, and/or engage in outright ownership of grocery shops under PPP arrangements with the unions in particular in mind.

With this approach, 20 “mandated lower prices or pricing” for these necessary goods may be better guaranteed or reached and sustainably maintained well into the future.

Knowing profiteers, and the addiction of profiteering as I do, it won’t be long before the legacy grocery shops and banking institutions fall in lockstep and come onside or go completely out of business.

If it’s the latter, other outlets will quickly replace them and open shops and banks in their stead.

It is imperative to understand that monopolies and harmful mergers must be broken up in this country one way or the other. Enough is enough.

It’s past due time for economic nationalism and freedom in Bermuda to be adopted and achieved, and for consumers and workers to finally have the yoke of suffocating economic colonialism and elitist classism removed once and for all from around their necks.

Government may also play an even greater part and consider utilising some of its empty facilities at Marginal Wharf or Morgan’s Point or Nine Beaches, for example, to store duty free goods it may itself import and subsequently sell directly to the public or co-operating outlets at significantly lowered prices for the same quality goods or baskets sold at, and across the spectrum of, the “legacy“ grocery shops inventories.

The system of monopolies must end, voluntarily or otherwise. Price controls are a good start in achieving those objectives. Government, take no prisoners as you advance this much delayed initiative. Head ‘em up, and move ‘em out.

• Phil Perinchief is a former attorney-general. He holds master’s degrees in economics and econometrics and previously worked as a statistician