You will never convince me that price gouging is a good thing for consumers. It isn't, no matter what you may think.
Internet arguments being unwinnable, the most I can hope is to offer a different perspective. It's kind of weird how you characterize my position. I think you're making some questionable assumptions, here.
I still think the cons don't outway the pros. In this case, the price gouging is just too extreme. We are not talking about a dollar or two increase per mask. Try 4 to 8 times the price for a single mask. And you have to remember, in 3rd world countries, most of those populations consist of low income families. That means they can't afford the prices to buy their own masks.
I did say it sucks to be on the receiving end of it, but I think you're not being realistic about the alternatives. Ultimately, it's not the gouging that's the root problem - it's the
shortage, and it's a massive one. The net effect is that
some people aren't going to have masks they either need, or at least
think they need. The question then comes down to one of how you decide who gets masks and who doesn't.
Health experts have been clear about the fact that these masks don't provide protection against the virus - or, at least not the kind of protection people think they do. So, would you have panicked consumers depleting the supply of masks that will not keep them safe, to the extent that hospitals can't get the masks they need for safe surgeries? Otherwise, we're going to see hospitals either not performing life-saving surgeries, or performing surgeries
without masks. Surgery without masks leads to more deaths caused resulting from otherwise-avoidable infections. Hospitals, around the world, are
already facing the very real prospect of running out of masks.
This has nothing to do with hospitals stocking up on supplies as with these kind of pandemics, as the sick can't even reach the hospitals. So there goes those arguments being valid.
Huh? The only problem with sick reaching hospitals is with their not being enough hospitals, staff, and supplies. covid-19 takes a fairly long time to kill. There's
plenty of time to get people into care, so long as the system has the capacity to provide that care.
And, to the extent that masks are effective, health care providers should have priority access, since they are most at risk. Not only do they have the highest likelihood of coming into contact with the virus, but the risk is much greater, the larger dose of it you receive, meaning masks don't even need to be 100% effective to provide real benefits to them. And I shouldn't have to convince you that, for each healthcare worker who dies (or even has to take leave do to becoming a patient), you'll have a multiple of deaths among the public. It's when the system collapses that these sorts of things
really spiral out of control.
Basically, the only viable alternative to price gouging would be to have government step in and handle mask allocation and distribution. Either way, panicked consumers are going to be at the bottom of the pecking order.
If you have price controls and no rationing or managed distribution, then some people will buy up and hoard all of the supplies, depriving others (including in systemically-important roles) who might need them more. In addition to most consumers probably
still not getting any.
Take your pick.
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