4 ms·
THIS. No law can ever repeal the laws of supply and demand, demand increases MASSIVELY during times of crisis, the result is prices must increase until supply
by sbenitoj 9y ago
THIS.
No law can ever repeal the laws of supply and demand, demand increases MASSIVELY during times of crisis, the result is prices must increase until supply increases or demand decreases again.
The alternative scenario that anti-gouging laws attempt to realize is for sellers to keep the cost of goods (now in high demand) the same, meaning they will quickly run out and shortages will arise, leaving those willing to pay higher prices unable to purchase goods.
Also, from a practical standpoint, if businesses are forced to keep prices the same, nothing stops people from buying up all the (now in high demand) goods and reselling them at a (much higher) current market price.
- closeparen 9y agoFundamentally, a lot of people think it's okay/desirable for some to be deprived of a scarce resource because they lost a government lottery, but not okay when they're deprived of it because they can't afford it. If your moral framework views "deprived by the government's fair/random centrally planned allocation" and "deprived by the market's prices" as roughly equivalent, then you won't have a lot of common ground with those people. It's the same in urban housing. Some want to minimize deprivation, others only want to distribute it more evenly across the socioeconomic spectrum.
- sbenitoj 9y agoI fundamentally disagree with the use of all forms of coercion unless its in self-defense.