3 ms·

Sure there are some important details missed in the story, but I really don't like how fuzzy the line is. It's not like you usually buy the stuff from the manuf

by krick 7y ago

Sure there are some important details missed in the story, but I really don't like how fuzzy the line is. It's not like you usually buy the stuff from the manufacturer, the whole world of trading is built on the ability to buy cheap and to sell under the conditions where the price can be (always somewhat artificially) made higher. It's what the resellers do, it's the "free market". Yet when a man manages to predict that the demand (and hence the price) of hand sanitizer will rise during the time of pandemic and to "stockpile" some measly 17 700 bottles of it — he can be prosecuted for that. And I mean, seriously, 17 700 bottles is peanuts, it's not like he was short selling US$10 billion worth of pounds sterling during the time of financial collapse (which he majorly contributed to).

alexobenauer 7y ago
Whole areas were without necessary products directly because of his actions. No, he didn’t mess up an entire industry, but for the areas he hit, we were without sanitizing products much sooner.
eru 7y ago
> [...] the whole world of trading is built on the ability to buy cheap and to sell under the conditions where the price can be (always somewhat artificially) made higher. Not sure what you mean by 'always somewhat artificially'? Eg retail trading of the kind that Amazon or Walmart do doesn't strike me as particularly artificial: of course, there's going to be a price difference between what the factory gets and what customers pay? Same for commodities trading. Or even stocks: if Warren Buffett puts in lots of smarts to find undervalued companies and buys them, the rest of the world catching up some time later seems perfectly sensible. Of course, there might be _some_ instances where the price goes up 'somewhat artificially' perhaps? But I am not sure what that would even mean? My contention here is with the 'always'.
anigbrowl 7y ago
That's great for elective consumption, but when there's a public health crisis it puts lives at risk. Cornering the market on candy bars or novelty items, make a million bucks, that's great and has my blessing. Trying to do it during a disease outbreak makes someone a PoS.

by krick 7y ago

alexobenauer 7y ago

Whole areas were without necessary products directly because of his actions. No, he didn’t mess up an entire industry, but for the areas he hit, we were without sanitizing products much sooner.

eru 7y ago

> [...] the whole world of trading is built on the ability to buy cheap and to sell under the conditions where the price can be (always somewhat artificially) made higher. Not sure what you mean by 'always somewhat artificially'? Eg retail trading of the kind that Amazon or Walmart do doesn't strike me as particularly artificial: of course, there's going to be a price difference between what the factory gets and what customers pay? Same for commodities trading. Or even stocks: if Warren Buffett puts in lots of smarts to find undervalued companies and buys them, the rest of the world catching up some time later seems perfectly sensible. Of course, there might be _some_ instances where the price goes up 'somewhat artificially' perhaps? But I am not sure what that would even mean? My contention here is with the 'always'.

anigbrowl 7y ago

That's great for elective consumption, but when there's a public health crisis it puts lives at risk. Cornering the market on candy bars or novelty items, make a million bucks, that's great and has my blessing. Trying to do it during a disease outbreak makes someone a PoS.