...the travesty and tragedy. Well, maybe not tragedy.

Apparently there's an investigation afoot in one of my favorite industries: chocolate. And what is this investigation about? Price fixing. For those not familiar with the term, that's when companies will work together to sell the same thing at the same price (or very close prices).

Apparently chocolatiers don't want to be underbid by confectioners. I can understand that - close pricing would be key in the candy industry, which has had a history of copying formulas or releasing similar products. And having multiple companies raise (instead of lower) their prices by 10 to 12 percent all within days of each other does sound a little fishy.

I'd truly be outraged if it were someone like Valrhona or Godiva. But it's not, even though the factories they're targeting are in Germany where good chocolate is made. The guys being checked out for price fixing are Mars, Hershey and Nestle. It's not even *good* chocolate that's being accused of this, but the mass market stuff.

Granted, I could easily get my nose out of joint over this because it raises the price of Easter, Halloween and Christmas candy that I bring into this house. It doesn't raise the price of Valentine or anniversary candy because DH knows better than to buy mass market stuff for us. And for many, this is the chocolate that they swear by. And with Valentine's Day just around the corner, isn't it interesting that this is getting some attention?

Even I will admit that I have a weakness for the occasional Three Musketeers bar and my M&M jar stays filled for those who need a snack (and for myself, naturally). But what is that 10-12% raise in prices going to result in? Will we not be able to afford those few extra cents for that candy bar anymore? And what are we going to see in the vending machines? Instead of 65 cents for a bar it's going to be 75 or 80 cents, right? Oh the humanity...

...of course, the real travesty would be Valrhona raising it's prices, but let's not go there.