That's not a good example. If a supply shortage drove price that high, what choice would I have? However if the store clerk is demanding 5x asking price witho

That's not a good example. If a supply shortage drove price that high, what choice would I have? However if the store clerk is demanding 5x asking price without basis, I'll just go to another store. That's just how supply + demand works. That house went for 782k over the asking price because it can. This isn't a case of the supplier being unreasonable.