5 ms·
Reading this thread is the official confirmation that Americans are out of their mind.
by avip 7y ago
Reading this thread is the official confirmation that Americans are out of their mind.
- newbie578 7y agoAbsolutely, I cannot fathom how people are so anti-government that they cannot see the forest from the tree. These types of situations are textbook explanations for WAR PROFITEERING (except we are in a crisis instead of war).
- amiga_500 7y agoIt's because the default mindset is that everyone is horrible and motivated solely by profit.
- justinmeiners 7y agoThat's a bit of and extreme characterization of "tend to look out for the well being of your family/people you care about" So who's model accounts for hoarding behaviors like this?
- rjkennedy98 7y agoYeah, the government is great at stopping price gouging. You know - like in Medicare or DOD contracts.
- cmrdporcupine 7y agoHoarding doesn't seem to be an issue in the Canadian medicare system here. So I'm not sure this is an attribute of state administrated systems per se, but more something about American culture?
- gwright 7y ago> These types of situations are textbook explanations for WAR PROFITEERING (except we are in a crisis instead of war). Meh. I don't think it is the same thing at all. There is no shortage of raw materials or of labor (as in war time). There is an increased demand (irrational or rational doesn't matter). Best way to decrease demand is to let prices rise. It isn't really any simpler than that. If politeness or customs or laws prevent the price from rising while demand continues to rise then the outcome is 100% expected: shortages where the product isn't available for any price. It is our own mis-placed disdain for surge pricing that is creating the shortages.
- stbtrax 7y agoSurge pricing in itself affects people differently across income levels. If the end goal is to have availability to sanitation supplies across the population to prevent the spread, then surge pricing is not the answer.
- gwright 7y ago> If the end goal is to have availability to sanitation supplies across the population to prevent the spread, then surge pricing is not the answer. That is just an assertion with no justification that goes against all standard economic theory.
- cmrdporcupine 7y agoIt really drives home to me, again, how prevalent right-wing libertarianism is in the computing community.
- SamReidHughes 7y agoIt's full of people intelligent enough to understand how incentives and consequences work, and mature enough to be able to accept that some possibly immoral people might benefit for the greater good.
- sneak 7y agoHow do you get from small/no government libertarianism to “right-wing”?
- wilg 7y agoI know libertarians think they are very clever and aren't on anybody's side, but enlightened selfishness is still the enemy of progress. That philosophy is pretty darn right-wing on economic and social issues. You can't just slap "personal freedom" on top of that and claim it comes out smelling like a rose.
- newen 7y agoYes! Especially the Hacker News Silicon Valley types. HN is becoming so predictable these days.