Walking into a British supermarket today, you might notice the cost of essentials creeping up again. But it’s not just your wallet feeling the pinch; this is the sound of the UK economy taking a worrying turn toward government-led interventionism.

The latest culprit is Business Secretary Peter Kyle who is openly picking winners and losers in the market — something that usually gets a free-market advocate like me reaching for my pitchfork. Rather than allowing companies to rise or fall based on their merits, he’s stepping in with an activist strategy aimed at scaling up businesses and attracting foreign investment.

Let me break this down: Kyle's approach is a departure from traditional economic principles that have long believed the market should be self-regulating. By injecting government control into the economy, it signals to investors that success may not depend on business acumen or consumer demand but rather political favoritism.

Nobody’s going to tell you this on CNN, but when a high-ranking official starts talking about picking winners and losers, it often means they’re looking for a way to justify their own failure. The government is trying to shape the economy in its image, which usually ends up being more bureaucratic than effective.

Now here’s where things get interesting: Kyle’s buried number is likely the cost of regulatory compliance businesses will face under this new regime. I have been watching this for years, and when a government official starts talking about boosting an economy by picking winners, it’s usually a sign that the market isn’t doing its job as well as they’d like.

And who benefits from this? Not you or me — but rather, those with inside connections to power. This is how crony capitalism works: laws and regulations are manipulated so that only certain players can succeed.

To protect yourself, keep a close eye on these changes in the regulatory environment. Diversify your investments and be wary of any sudden economic booms that seem too good to be true — because they probably are.