Oddbean new post about login | logout While I agree to an extent, there is a point where people start to raise prices to extortionist levels. I think we can agree that charging obscene levels for basic necessities is wrong, right?
If company A raise prices too much, company B will offer a lower price, and company A will be forced to lower or go out of business Free markets/competition set prices, there is no such thing as "obscene levels"
In a disaster scenario, there is chaos and confusion. People WILL take advantage of that. I hope you never find yourself in such a situation.
Just tell me one thing: How should the price of let's say... A bottle of water he determined during a disaster? Please be specific
I'll make it simple.. If there is a disaster and access to clean potable water is scarce and someone is charging anything for water... They're a piece of shit.
How do you decide who gets the water, and who doesn't?
So are you suggesting that only people who can afford $100 for a bottle of water get to survive? Is that what you're getting at? Fuck the poor?
If something like water is scarce, it has to be used carefully and efficiently. A technology exists that optimizes efficient use of scarce resources. It's called a free market. On the other hand, an "authority" taking over the resource and metering it out ensures very different outcomes: black markets, elitism, cronyism, corruption, and use of violence to enforce the arrangement.
You haven't thought this through at all. If the water is scarce and you give it away you will just run out right away lol
For a free market to work, you need freedom of movement and of communication, which is not always available during disaster times. In those times, markets will form distortions, cartels and monopolies due to lack of free information flow. The price is still set by demand and supply, but the market is no longer free.
The unfortunate problem with fiat is that theyve made some companies so large that they have an outsized advantage and can dictate prices (monopolies).
unless it is a government protected monopoly, where competition is blocked by government, the only way a monopoly can dictate the price is by setting a price lower than anyone can compete with - which benefits us all