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0 pointsdmix6y ago0 comments

Pictures of empty shelves on social media is causing panic and driving more shortages. This is a lose-lose situation for gov interference. This sort of punitive response will always be far too late or too little to be effective anyway.

The markets will respond far faster with supply than setting price ceilings and fining random opportunists will.

So few people question whether it will actually work in the real world before asking if in an ideal scenario it is an effective idea.

I mean what’s going to happen next time? Are they going to lock up all the TP and ration it out on first signs of any sort of epidemic or other causes or panic? Because that’s when the hoarders and grey market guys were already stocking up.

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nostrademons6y ago

The point is to serve as a disincentive to ordinary people thinking "Oh, I can make a lot of money doing that."

It crossed my mind, when news of the coronavirus first broke, that I could make a lot of money speculating in toilet paper, canned goods, rice, and beans in the near future. (I did all my prep shopping 3 weeks ago, but didn't buy more than we personally needed as a family.) I didn't because a.) a little voice in my head said "Do you really want to be that asshole?" and b.) it occurred to me that it was very likely that powers that be (governments and market platforms like Amazon) were going to crack down very hard on scalpers, and it was not worth going to jail for. Turns out I was right about that - people are not going to jail (in the U.S. at least, I heard they may be in Europe), but they're facing $5000 fines per item or eating the cost of buying & disposing of the items because Amazon revoked their seller license.

The point of highlighting laws like this is so that people aren't tempted next time there's emergency to do the same thing.

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