[butlerm]

No one buys any product that costs more than it is worth to them. If value is lower than cost sales tend to go to zero. The continued market for a product even in the midst of shortage indicates that someone somewhere values the product more than its market price. Otherwise the price would drop until demand converged with supply.

[2OEH8eoCRo0]

I think this is true when there is competition and/or the good/service is not a necessity. If my electric company decided to add a mandatory $100 fee then I'd be forced to pay it. It's also why the emergency room can charge so much- are you going to shop around if you are in the middle of having a heart attack?

[Uehreka]

Yeah, but we (consumers) don’t usually see full exploitation of that principle as a good thing. Like, when pharmaceutical companies charge exorbitant prices for lifesaving drugs just because they can, that’s bad.

[smoldesu]

Martin Shkreli wasn't convicted for manipulating medicine prices, just outrunning his shareholders.

We, the consumers, don't get a damn word about what we want. Unless the free market says it's a bad thing, you're stuck enjoying whatever the corps decide the fight-of-the-week is.

[MichaelZuo]

What are you talking about?

The reason they still do so is because the majority of voters aren’t too bothered by it.

[yieldcrv]

That’s … reductionist, any voter that attempts to find a representative for a non-party line cause gets gaslit by rapid partisans about hating women or a marginalized group because its not their top cause guiding all voting decisions.

voters dont have control of their representatives either way

[MichaelZuo]

No it's not reductionist, it's the truth. Reductionist would be different, for example if it implied that change is impossible, or that voters will always stay the same, or that there is a guaranteed inevitability, etc...

Maybe your reading your own thoughts into someone else?

[yieldcrv]

okay, voters don’t have control of their representatives and nobody has floated a constitutional amendment

[MichaelZuo]

If you genuinely believe voters have literally no control over their representatives in the US, I highly doubt you would spend time writing comments on HN about pharmaceutical pricing and not on more important matters.

[yieldcrv]

rabid*

[Affric]

Sure, but often the costs of high prices of inelastic goods are externalised. People excluded from housing, banking, energy, education, and health markets necessarily turn to various anti social activities which create costs for society… and those who are making real profits rarely end up picking up the bill for these.

Though I don’t believe this line of reasoning applies to CUDA/GPUs (yet).