> One thing the pandemic taught me was that when the disaster comes, it's going to be your local community that turns on you first.
Whereas folks in my neighbourhood all pitched in to do grocery runs for the old and infirm.
> … after every hurricane, you'd see dozens of guys driving around with 4 brand new generators in the back of their pickup trucks, looking to sell them to desperate homeowners for 10X their cost.
Those guys are doing good: they are taking generators to people who need them. You see only the price, not the fact that the person who pays that price thinks he is better off with a generator than with the money. And those higher prices incentivise other folks to bring in more generators, which means … everyone who needs a generator will eventually get one. That is how markets work!
Whereas folks in my neighbourhood all pitched in to do grocery runs for the old and infirm.
> … after every hurricane, you'd see dozens of guys driving around with 4 brand new generators in the back of their pickup trucks, looking to sell them to desperate homeowners for 10X their cost.
Those guys are doing good: they are taking generators to people who need them. You see only the price, not the fact that the person who pays that price thinks he is better off with a generator than with the money. And those higher prices incentivise other folks to bring in more generators, which means … everyone who needs a generator will eventually get one. That is how markets work!