re: Coronavirus price gouger stuck with 18,000 bottles of sanitizers after Amazon bans him

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Yes, Amazon has found a way to make huge profits by getting people to give them money for stuff they think they need. Many overpay for the convenience but at the end of they dat, nobody is putting a gun to anyone's head.

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Amazon is doing this within normal market conditions. Those profits are all generated within the regular market as it’s designed to operate and therefore the market is “setting the price”.

What these “profiteers” are doing is basically taking advantage in a glitch in the system. The market doesn’t have adequate time to properly adjust to this temporary dramatic increase in demand.

And they are doing this to the detriment of the health and well-being of our country. The best thing we can do is slow the rate this spreads, and restricting public access to sanitizers (like these guys did) makes that more difficult.

In a pure, 100%, capitalistic sense then yes what they are doing is just adjusting to the market. But again, it’s to the detriment of public health. If this is how you feel, then you also couldn’t argue against a company who finds the cure for cancer and can produce it for $100, but sells it for $100,000. People would pay for it at that price point, it would be within what the market dictates, but hopefully you don’t agree that makes it right. There should be *some* limited intervention and regulation in the market. We would be a lot worse off in a 100% capitalist market without any regulation whatsoever.

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If you need the hand sanitizer and are willing to pay for it, then do it. If not, there are many other cheap and available alternatives.

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There are simple and cheap alternatives. People won’t think and panic. So many lemmings should be separated from their money.