My wife and I are hoarders. Prior to the virus breaking out had lots of stuff hoarded in case of an emergency, and now that time is here. We will not need to go into town for ages to compete for scarce resources.
But you would have us classed as criminals and presumably have our hoard confiscated for the common good.
This is a shortsighted philosophy. Think for a minute. Those who hoard are a buffer in the just in time system. Even people sticking up now have a beneficial side effect. Again buffering supply lines so when there is a shortage of able bodied workers to move or make more those dreadful hoarders are not putting a strain on struggling supply lines
Regards hamish
Hamish, my post was about the potential (and predictable) shortages of critical medications during a period of time when supply lines have been cut off. I doubt it is essential for you or anyone else to stock up on cases of vitamins or antibiotics nor boxloads of face masks and toilet paper when there is insufficient quantities for distribution. So if one house ends up owning a large surplus for the benefit of their personal security but many other houses end up with nothing, I don’t think that kind of hoarding is socially responsible behavior.
That behavior is all about me first and screw the rest of you.
So absolutely, it should be illegal and I would support that kind of law.
You want government officials to decide how to divvy out the scarce supplies.
Are you comfortable with that, confident that they won’t look after their friends etc in priority over you.?
Or that they will get t right and not end up messing up the distribution. Think Russia before the Berlin wall came down.
Me, I trust or rely on the government as little as possible,given it’s long history of mistreating the little people.
Regards hamish
Or maybe you would like the distribution handled by the same people who organized the disaster princess ops I mean the diamond princess…
I’d like to point out that most of us here who understand the importance of preparing for this, and other crisis are often stockpiling for those in our immediate family who don’t realize how critical doing that is. Especially at tipping points like now.
I’m at about 30-50% further stocked than I need to be for just my sister and I. I know several people who I would be ok with sharing my hoard, even if it took me down enough I was worried. By the same token there are those I would claim I had nothing if they came to my door.
I though have run into nanny types and government do gooders who would happily take everything I had to distribute it in the name of the public good but that would probably mean their friends and their family.
Hoarding laws meant to address people with a warehouse of masks is one thing. Going after people with the foresight to stock up to protect their family and their friends is another.
Gyro if you reread Nairobe’s post they did not advocate going after small preppers like me or you.
Thanks dtrammel, you are correct. There is a difference between readiness and hoarding. We have a class of people in our society who view circumstances like this as a business opportunity and they will buy as much as possible knowing they can resell at substantial markups. In the process they take excess goods off the shelf that might normally be available to ordinary working people who did not plan ahead. Like our parents for example. The thing to keep in mind here is that what is happening right now with the rapid mobilization of key resources taking place around the world that the collective actions of people and governments resembles what happens during a war. So we need to take care that we only buy and store what is reasonable and fair keeping in mind others who are disadvantaged might go without altogether.
You want bureaupratic organizations to be in charge of feeding you etc in one breath but in the next you say
“But others can shut down industry such as the case of welding gases being unavailable when containers of full cylinders are held up in ports due to corrupt customs officials.”
And
“The problems can be traced back to importers, supply chain disruptions, shortages of the correct currencies, import restrictions, customs bottlenecks, paperwork, corruption”
You sound like you are probably a altruistic person, however most people assume other people will behave like they would so you assume the WHO is staffed with people whom will act altruistically.
I used to be like that but have learnt the hard way that bureaucratic organizations are effective at weeding out altruistic people.
Have you watched " rules for rulers" ?
Those on power will guite happily throw you under the bus as a side effect of looking after themselves.
In Australia the huge run on toilet paper has prompted manufacturers to ramp up production now. This is a good thing because stocks are built up as a buffer so if it gets like wuhan and the factory is closed and the just in time supply chain dries up…
Many people agree with my sentiment that life gets pretty grim if you dont have something soft to wipe your arse with…
Regards hamish
Even if not scientific , doesnt mean its not an applicable word. Potent usually refers to strength. something that is 1000x more potent is quantitative, its 1000x stronger. but in the context its means has 1000 x greater ability. or it is able to bind 1000:1 times greater. that is pretty quantitative. it is scientific to quantify the binding capacity / difference between to compared things. and potent probably is the root of word more often used in chemistry and physics. “potential”
Thanks, when I searched for confirmation of the Beverwijk hospital story I only found a dubious celebrity news site, which did not seem a very trustworthy source…
I don’t think it is hoarding if nobody else is doing it. It is “stocking your pantry.”