Care to explain why? You wrote that you think it is wrong, but no explanation.
Are you saying that all health products should be excluded from normal market forces and that someone (government?) should mandate fixed prices on all of them at all times? That just by virtue of being health-related they should not be in the normal market? We sure don't seem to do or particularly fancy this type of economic planning anywhere in the west...
How is it artificial when the shortage itself (which means real lack of supply compared to amount of demand) gave possibility to set such high prices in the first place? How is that scarcity "artificial"?
>Allowing the market to select prices that keep masks in stock is the opposite!
In this situation it also makes sure that the rich can be a lot better protected from a virus than the poor, that is not ethical in my mind. Yes, the market will produce more, but that takes time, time during which people die.
The rich are better off in every way than the poor, every day. That's the nature of life. It isn't fair. Life being unfair doesn't mean something unethical is happening. Ostensibly, those that have the money to pay more either worked more for it, got luckier, or someone else who worked harder or got luckier loved them enough to gift them their wealth. Why should people be punished for luck or receiving a gift (inheritance) because it's 'unfair' to other people who weren't so lucky?
It isn't the rich peoples' fault, or the poor peoples', that there was a sudden surge in demand for these goods, or that the market did its job in adjusting the goods to their new real price in order to keep them on shelves. That's exactly what you want. Otherwise, no amount of luck or hard work will allow you to get that good even if you really, really, want it, and are willing to sacrifice other goods in order to pay the elevated -- but worth it, due to the circumstances -- price, because that elevated price was banned by people crying about "price gouging."
Are you saying that all health products should be excluded from normal market forces and that someone (government?) should mandate fixed prices on all of them at all times? That just by virtue of being health-related they should not be in the normal market? We sure don't seem to do or particularly fancy this type of economic planning anywhere in the west...