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Politics : View from the Center and Left -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Cogito who wrote (48079)	2/6/2008 11:30:25 AM
From: TimF	Respond to of 541457

People will indeed have to go without if there isn't enough of something to go around, but that doesn't mean there will be lines. If the price is high enough people will buy less and the supply will last longer, if need be the price goes even higher and many people don't even bother getting in line knowing they can't afford it. The higher prices don't solve the problem of "not enough of something" to meet peoples desires (at least not in the short run) but they accurately reflect and give information about the problem, and allow people to adjust in the most efficient way. Rationing by queue is inefficient. Lines use up people's time, including people who spend a long time in line only to have the supply run out. Gas lines are even worse because people burn up gas in line. We see that all the time with the release of new video game machines and whatnot. People stand in lines, and not everybody gets one. Because the price doesn't accurately reflect the scarcity. Have the new video games sell for what some sell them on E-Bay (thousands of dollars) and you won't see the lines at stores. No I wouldn't impose some sort of reverse price control, forcing companies to raise their prices to reflect scarcity. That would be an abuse against the freedom of the company and their customers. Also the lines serve as a promotion for the "hot new item that everyone's trying to get". But there is a downside, in this case people freely choose to accept the downside. That's fine if they want it that way. I'd say the same for gasoline, if some one wants to cell it for 2 cents a gallon more power to them. But such economically unreasonable prices should never be forced on anyone.