[rolenthedeep]

Yes, artificial scarcity and the accompanying artificially high prices are a bad thing for consumers, in all situations.

Inventory in a warehouse does not have the kind of cost you think it does. Most of the "cost" people talk about are hypothetical profits that a different product occupying that space might generate in the same time. The real costs are insurance and warehouse leases. Per unit, it's almost nothing.

A company like Apple could easily stockpile months worth of inventory and never even notice the real physical cost of storing it.

[chrisdirkis]

If you think there's no value to present money flows, I'd love to take $1MM from you. I'll pay it back later, so there's literally no cost to you, right?

Opportunity costs, or any other "virtual" cost, are still meaningful figures.