[rhino369]

Whether or not you think our model is broken, price controls of goods you want more of is a terrible policy.

If you want someone to open up a factory churning out PPE, which might only be needed for a few months, you need to let them charge a huge premium.

[stainforth]

Wouldn't that cordon off these supplies only for the rich then? How can a regular person afford them following?

[barry-cotter]

This is only true if you can’t make more. If you can high prices are a powerful incentive for entrepreneurs to make more. When something is needed really badly for public health reasons the government should either be paying top dollar for delivery as close as possible to right now or paying up front for later delivery at a premium to normal prices. That way the manufacturers of what you want don’t pass on the extra sales for fear of going bankrupt.

[stainforth]

"Entrepeneurs"- ah those famed angels among us? Can't wait for them to show up

[cameronbrown]

They can't - and that's simply because there's not enough of them and nothing can circumvent that fact quickly. Let's not pretend you can solve a public health crisis with monetary policy.

[austhrow743]

Masks are pretty damn cheap. You could 100x the price and regular people could still afford them.

[rhino369]

Regular people don’t need PPE right now, hospitals do. And they can all afford to pay 5X normal prices. They already are.

And when production gets high enough prices will fall.

If you price control, you’ll just push them all to black markets.