I see from some of the prices that have been advertised, that the price wars that other retailers feared, have begun. Walmart bought Massmart and now Makro is already beginning to sell some television sets, cameras and even bread at prices 10% to 15% below to what the other retailers are selling them at.

Although some people ultimately say this puts people out of jobs, you cannot keep prices artificially high, and while lower prices in one area invariably might mean job losses in that area, they generally lead to job creation in another area. You cannot keep an industry artificially afloat and at a certain time anybody that has a job in a video store, for example, will lose that, because times and technologies change and the way people spend their money changes. At the end of the day, all of us as consumers are certainly better off, because prices go down while for less money we get better and improved technology.

One needs merely think as to how many extra secretaries would have been needed a few years ago, before voicemail, simply to take down voice messages but now you can not only receive a voice message while you are on holiday in the Kruger National Park, but you can also have software that automatically transcribes it for you and gives you a fairly accurate typewritten version of what the voice message says.