As the short description says. If not managed well then there might be a risk. There is no problem right now.
In tomorow, a week, months or years a comet might/may hit the earth, or food shortage, there is always a risk. But let’s focus on what can be done right now, if problems happens in the future then let’s face those problems when they occur and not before they have happened.
I think the solution to the TP shortage is to stop treating “price gougers” like criminals for playing the market. If the perceived value is much higher then the price, but price cannot increase, people will just horde as much as they can. If you have an open free market then we find a price that is at equilibrium with the demand and people don’t buy as much as they possibly can.
I get what your saying, but I saw a £1 shower gel on amazon for £17.99.
That’s just an asshole seller. Imo anyway.
I think its just because the market is kept small by the negative attitudes towards trading these items if you are not a store. There’s a “villain tax” in there for sure right now. If the markets were more liquid I think we would find some price above 1 but far below 18…
I don’t see it as an asshole seller so much as someone that is just doing the logical thing and selling it as high as they can. The solution is not to stop these people. Ironically the solution is to have MORE of these people, because then they will compete and drive the price down to where its “fair” in the sense that it is really driven by the actual supply/demand and not just who is willing to be hated for profits.
I suspect it’s one of the same ppl who cleared Amazon’s stock for £1 though.
I dunno, I couldn’t live with myself if I was like that.
I would think its better for society if someone clears the stock and redistributes it (potentially for a profit) vs people buy as much as they can to horde and never redistribute to someone who needs its like 18 dollars style 
Instead we are freezing prices and imposing item limits like we live in a communist society. Lets not get bucked off capitalism now just because times are tough. This is in fact where it would shine if we let it.
I’m not convinced.
If you could buy something and double the price, someone you sell to could do the same, and so on and so forth.
Eventually everything would be thousands of times the original price and only the rich would survive.
Of course you could refuse to sell it all to one person to make sure that didnt happen. But that is what the shops are doing anyway.
yes lets just do exactly that.
Price gougers are scum, parasites and all your fancy “the market will decide” is simply shite you put up to deflect from your very real shortcomings as a human being.
And I mean that most sincerely
take your economic theory and stick it.
Lets see you breathing dollars when your capitalist system has failed you and the rest of “freedom lovers” and you need a ventilator.
Tell me @andyypants, exactly what value do you add to society? What is it that you can do that is of any benefit to others? What skills or trade do you have? Cos in the coming months and years it will be those who can do, those who can make things work, those who can care who will be valued and the “entrepreneurs” will find themselves cast adrift. And that will be no bad thing at all.
Goodbye bankers, goodbye traders, goodbye investment advisors and goodbye swathes of useless middle managers and other assorted parasites.
Oh and f|_|ck “shareholder value” and all who sail in her.
I have a friend who works in logistics in Tesco. They were delivering 3 times more to stores in the previous weeks, because demand had exploded.
So, it isn’t a shortage as you say - they can easily cover normal demand. It is the 3x demand that is a logistical challenge and due to panic buying and hoarding.
My local smaller stores are fine. Loo roll, pasta, rice, etc, all fine. Plenty of bread and spuds, etc. Even plenty of eggs! Ok, I live out in the country, but still.
I did ponder growing some spuds and carrots in the garden, but I’m not sure whether we’re at the ‘dig for Britain’ phase yet!
The only digging for Britain I will be doing is for its grave 
But I will be digging for Scotland and my community,
I was washing out old chemical containers today to plant tatties in them. The old 205 rally car and the rusty classic Citroen look like getting scrapped and the space they took will likely get planted with veg.
Price is a signal which defines demand. If the price goes way higher than cost, it encourages new suppliers to enter the market.
In the short term, it may appear as profiteering - maybe it is - but it sends a signal loud and clear that their is more demand than supply.
I’m not sure It matters who you identify with. Whether I dig for county down, northern Ireland, Britain, etc, they are just lines on a map. I try not to let it define me, especially as I’m English and not from here.
It’s all tatties
It is always the poor who suffer, especially those who cannot afford to even buy one months worth for stocking up. Then these profiteers jump in and buy up all the stocks which the primary suppliers cannot keep up with just all the ordinary people buying small amount extra, let alone those who go shop to shop emptying the shelves.
The tooling costs and startup production costs today is often too high for new people to enter the market for a short term shortage (3-6 month), then that is lost once the shortage is over since they will be priced out of the market when gluts occur. So its invalid claim to say price is an indicator for a short term shortage and others will move in, they won’t because in the end its a huge loss for them.
Thus we get to the point that the poorer you are the worse hit you will be by these profiteering scum.
EDIT: before you use an exception, I agree there are certain exceptions, like distillers re-purposing to produce hand cleanser.
Your line of reasoning is good for normal life, but for short term artificial shortages it doesn’t work well at all and the poor are the ones to suffer the most. This equates to a society that is not a healthy society.
Ever even managed a payroll?
Well, price still tempers realised demand (purchases). If there is a shortage, enabling a price spike and profiteering, selling stuff at the original price will not solve the shortage; it will just be first come, first serve, until they are gone.
Moreover, not everything needs tooling. If delivery costs spiral, anyone with a vehicle and free time can help to reduce it. This will help everyone involved, as supply will start to approach demand again, even if it may have a higher cost than normal times.
Ofc, you can use rationing to try to stop panic buying. Some places are doing that already, but without national, coordinated, rationing it won’t stop those panicking from roaming through several shops.
Ultimately, if supply is lower than demand, then there needs to be some way to lower the demand. Whether this is pricing or rationing, both have their limitations amd impacts.
Starters I did not say this. I was against profiteers creating artificial shortages and profiteering off it.
So firstly there is no stock left for most to buy at original or increased prices. So rather moot point. Secondly the profiteers are not just increasing the price they sell it for but are making many times the retail price.
There is a big difference to prices rising organically because of increasing demand and prices multiplying at the hands of the profiteers.
Then you proceed to mention the exceptions I said there would be. So again a moot point.
You did mention limiting selling quantities, and Australia has across the grocery stores agreed to limit all items being hoarded and perhaps profiteered. This limits their ability to do this. Australia also have laws against that practice.
And my point of the whole post I made still stands and that is the poor suffer from profiteering using/creating artificial shortages. And this points to a suffering/unhealthy society. It is not a good thing nor a desired thing in a healthy society.
I never said profiteering was desirable, I just said it was inevitable when shortages occur and it increases the intensity of the price signal.
When shortages get so acute that some folks can buy up remaining stock, to flip at a higher price, you are a bad situation regardless.
You seem to be spoiling for an argument though, so I will leave you to it.
Maybe there was a misunderstanding because the original quote of yours I used was
Where you seemed to entertain that it maybe profiteering and not as a negative
If you were against profiteering, then I apologise for thinking that you included it in your discussion.
BTC continues to perform well. Touched 6.9k just there on preev.com.
What happened to the gloom and doom merchants predicting sub $4k?