4 ms·

Ah, the "well someone else is going to be a shit about this so I might as well be the one that profits" argument.

• judah 9y ago
  Also known as, "Embrace reality argument", because this is what people actually do. Capitalism works because people are greedy, and it takes advantage of that.
  • frgtpsswrdlame 9y ago
    Or we could stop saying "races to the bottom are inevitable, just accept them" and work on preventing them, especially in disaster situations.
  • clavalle 9y ago
    But it only works when that 'greed' (I prefer 'self-interest') is directed toward creating value. Greed can be a good motivator but greed can be destructive to the market, too. See: Rent Seeking, Predatory Pricing, Protection Racket etc.
• sodawater 9y ago
  Your reaction is totally knee-jerk. How do you best distribute scarce resources? Take bottled water. If you allow people the freedom charge more, it makes consumers conserve water more. When you introduce a profit motive it incentivizes people to bring water to the disaster area. And if you don't afford people the freedom charge more, then you're simply changing the constraint from "who can afford it" to "who can get there first". I ought to turn this around back on you and say "Oh, what about the sad soul who didn't have a car - You are discriminating against them with your price controls - because they can't make it to the store quick enough." Then - when they do decide to voluntarily buy water at an increased price, that's because the water has _more_ value than the money they forked over for it.
• macrael 9y ago
  If you're worried about resellers, then limit how much a single person can walk off with. Raising the price doesn't magically prevent shortages. It also makes it so some can't get what they need, just by the principle of who can afford it as opposed to first come first serve.