Listen. I do not want to be here. You probably do not want to be here either. But we have to talk about the peppers. Down in Australia, the big supermarkets are playing a game. It is a game they always win and you always lose. It is called the 'Per Each' scam. Usually, you weigh your vegetables. You put them on the scale. The machine tells you the price based on weight. It is fair, or as fair as things get in this trash fire of a world. But now? Now they want to charge you for 'each' item. One pepper. One price. Simple, right? Wrong. It is a trick to make you pay more for less.

A data analyst in Sydney found this out. He must have been bored. Or maybe he just really likes peppers. Either way, he did the math we are all too tired to do. He looked at fifteen different fruits and veggies at Woolworths. He found out that if you buy by the item instead of by the weight, you are getting hosed. Some things are 50% more expensive just because they are not on a scale. The variations are what he called 'completely arbitrary.' That is a fancy way of saying they are making the numbers up as they go. It makes no sense. But that is the point. The point is to confuse you until you just give up and tap your credit card.

We are all so tired. The supermarkets know this. They know you just want to go home and eat your sad salad and watch TV. They are counting on your brain being too fried to do the math. The people in charge of these stores are not your friends. They are not trying to help the farmers. They are not trying to keep prices low for 'hardworking families.' That is just stuff they say in commercials with happy music. They are actually trying to see how much they can steal before you notice. And even when you notice, what are you going to do? Stop eating? No. You will just complain on the internet and then go right back to the store.

The politicians are even worse. They will go on the news and look very concerned. They will say they are 'looking into it' or 'calling for transparency.' Those are just words. Transparency is what people ask for when they are shocked they are being lied to. Of course you are being lied to. The government loves these big stores. These stores pay taxes and keep the numbers looking good. If the stores rob you, the government gets its cut. It is a big club and you are not in it.

We have reached a point where we cannot even buy a vegetable without getting scammed. It used to be that you knew what things cost. Now it is all 'wild volatility.' That sounds like a weather report, but it is actually just corporate greed. They want to see how high they can push the price of a single piece of produce before people start a riot. So far, there are no riots. There are just people paying three dollars for a single pepper. It is pathetic. We are a species that went to the moon, and now we are being outsmarted by a grocery store shelf.

The 'capsicum paradox' is just another sign that everything is broken. The Left will say we need more rules and bigger government to watch the stores. The Right will say the market will fix it and we should just shop somewhere else. They are both wrong. The rules will be written by the stores' lawyers, and the 'market' is just three giant companies that all agree to overcharge you at the same time. There is no winning. There is only the slow slide into a world where everything is a scam and a pepper costs as much as a car.

If you think this is only happening in Australia, you are dreaming. This is the future everywhere. It is a future where you do not own anything and you pay a premium for the privilege of being tricked. The 'transparency fail' the analyst found isn't a mistake. It is the business model. So go ahead. Buy your 'per each' veggies. Pay the 50% tax on being too lazy to use a scale. The supermarket bosses are laughing at you. I am laughing at you too. We all deserve this for being so easy to fool. Happy shopping, you suckers. Try not to think about the math while you eat. It might give you indigestion. But then again, the medicine for that will probably be priced 'per each' too, and it will cost you your soul.