It is often joked that Supermarkets exist like vampires moving in to towns sucking out the juices and then leaving a rotting carcass behind. Sadly the story of Ramsgate seems to show this to have some truth to it - especially with the chain known as TESCO. Thanet Online carries this story.

After all Margate is already in the throws of saying no to TESCO - a gathering hosted by Arlington House Residents Association have already made a firm stand against the Margate development. They are unhappy about the TESCO redevelopment plans which will see the loss their mostly derelict car park while flat owners foot a bill of £17,000 each for the privilege. The multi-million pound scheme to build a TESCO in Margate where shops already struggle to get a foothold would also see the demolition of the shops on the controversial Arlington site (on Margate seafront).

With significant doubt being expressed at the idea that Thanet District Council might actually listen to the people the already heavily pummelled people of Thanet may find it hard to raise the fighting spirit needed. If so then we truly are as dead as Margate's town centre.

What no one seems to be asking very loudly is how on earth the roads ont he sea front will cope. Already the stretch by the clock tower is heavy with traffic and with the turner Centre due to open sooner or later one imagines that there will be more traffic. A TESCO and (if you have a lot of faith) some other big stores at the other end would surely bring grid lock. Some potential impacts might be that the golden beach becomes too smoggy when the wind is in the wrong direction, that bus journey times are lengthened meaning Westgate and Birchington suffer and those that rely on buses pay more.

As a result of this Margate town centre is unlikely to profit from the build and the old town will get harder to get to. TDC are likely to complain of dropping revenue from the multi story car park and stupidly raise the prices there again driving people to Westwood Cross and this new TESCO where they might get a shot at parking for less than the price of a small house.

Then again if the council was interested in reviving any part of Margate then they would be removing all barriers to getting traffic to the site not adding them.

But we needed fear that Thanet has somehow gone barmey wanting less TESCO stores. Activists in a number of places now oppose TESCO ont he grounds that they are now pushing into plalces they should never be.

Why are TESCO keen on new stores

TESCO are desperate for new stores. If not here then in France or anywhere they can build them. The reason - the folly of infinite growth.

TESCO like so many other big companies measure their health on financial growth and expansion. If some competitor has 0.1% more profits than they this is a "disaster". TESCO and every other firm is seeking to double it's size over a fix period the size of this period is dependant on the rate of growth but a decreased rate of growth is seen as very bad so doubling speed can get faster but never, ever slower.

TESCO has simply run out of places to put shops and yet they must squeeze twice as much money out of the population as they did seven or eight years ago. By 2017 they need to be looking at having twice the number of shops they have now.

It does not take a genius to realise that there is a point on this chart where there are more than one TESCO stores per person in the country. Sooner or later TESCO must fail and what they are trying to do is put off the time when it will happen.

It's the same for every business. And like every business before it TESCO must get more aggressive to survive. The simple rule of mathematics can not be by-passed you can not have infinite growth in a finite system! TESCO is no exception.

Has TESCO Turned Evil?