“American Candy Shops”

This is a damned odd thing: across London (and apparently much of the rest of Britain), an inexplicably vast number of shops have opened up that purport to sell American candy and treats and junk food. I say “purport” because the prices are apparently insanely high, and they seem to always be empty. This is not the sort of thing that can be supported by any reading of free market capitalism; it’s really only explained by either criminal activity or socialism (but then, I repeat myself). A lot of locals believe them to be some sort of money laundering operation, but it’s vague on how that works. Perhaps someone comes in now and again and buys an armload of Oreos for the street price of, say, a trunkload of Afghani opium. If so, fine. But why are all these stores almost the exact same thing, that close to each other? And if they are a front for a criminal enterprise, why aren’t the British cops doing anything about them? Oh, wait… these are the same police who were scared of the grooming gangs and let them murder and traumatize vast numbers of British children rather than risk being called names…