Although it's disturbing, economics shows that this is the best way to optimize a complex system.
People with more needs are willing to pay more, generally.
There are caveats, but these are generally built into economics models. Best to let the experts in government decide on how capitalism should play out. A lot of arm-chair socialists around here demonstrating their lack of education.
> Best to let the experts in government decide on how capitalism should play out
I'm having a hard time parsing that thought. It seems self contradictory, at least if you view capitalism as primarily defined as voluntary trades free from government interference.
The COVID-19 crisis definitely falls in the category of “events people are prepared to exploit financially”. So yes, these markets are running normally and cash is still king.
If you could’ve bid higher than California you probably could’ve gotten all those masks.
That’s the point of these global crises. They create a new trade regime to play in, when the big finance entities feel like they’ve wrung all the money they can out of the old one.
What was going to happen to Boeing, Ford this year? Nothing good. They had squeezed out the last cycle and we’re in danger of drying out. Now what’s going to happen? Bailouts and cover for layoffs. Comparatively good outcome for shareholders I bet. And amazing outcome for leadership who won’t be blamed for the hard times, but otherwise would have been left holding the bag.
I’m not saying Boeing released COVID-19, or steadied the government’s (do nothing) hand during the response. But someone with deep pockets for sure is doing the latter.
