My bad if my previous post came off as hostile. I'm not angry about you or your thoughts. But austrian economics is a topic I'm passionate about.
Is this some sort of dogma that is taught in schools where you people come from? Markets do not account for consumer misinformation nor do they account for externalities.
What we're being taught in schools where "us people" come from is being degraded over time. We used to be taught austrian economics, for the most part. Markets are representations of people's will, time, capacity, and desire. People want something, people supply it, the price gets negotiated through purchase power, life's good. Misinformation and "externalities"(?) are part of human nature. As the consumer, you have a responsibility to do your homework on what you buy, and place your dollars and your trust where you see fit.
I didn't "arbitrarily" say anything like that. lol in your first paragraph you said worth is abstract. I'm saying it should be dictated by quality of the product, primarily, and yet you claim I'm the one being arbitrary? Are you joking?
Your argument implies it. To quote you on a few things;
price gouging is increasing the price of something beyond what is considered fair or reasonable. And I wholeheartedly agree it's a facet (though I'd rather say function) of capitalism. One of the many flaws with market economics.
"Fair and reasonable" is something you believe you have some vested power to dictate. What is fair and reasonable? Well, whatever the hell people think! It's arbitrary. If you truly understand this, your next quotes wouldn't be here. Whether you realize it or not, you are displaying a thought pattern that value is somehow measurable, that you can somehow or another come to a "fair" price point for things, which isn't true. What's fair is what the consumers agree to pay. If it's too expensive, they don't pay, and thus the producer lowers costs. That's it. Nothing else is "fair". It's all arbitrary.
We're talking about perceived value and actual value.
"Actual value" doesn't exist. It's all perceived. Markets are voluntary.
some arsehole duct tapes a banana to a wall, calls it art and sells it for $150,000. Is it materially or artistically or in any other sense, worth that?
Again, the display that somehow you can dictate what things are worth. I wouldn't pay that, but many people would, and thus, it was worth it. How very arrogant of you to claim that something can't be artistically worth alot of money to somebody just because it's not to you.
if I buy Seed Junkie's ice cream kush cake dosilato fritter breath for 300 bucks, sell it for 5000 and some moron pays that, I'm not taking advantage or exploiting him or her in any way?
This is also arrogant, because you're patronizing the customer who
will pay that much, based on the reflection of
your thoughts and values. If somebody wants that strain, and has tons of money laying around, and it's worth it to them, that's that. Your income is yours dude lol. Some people make 6 figures, some people make 7 figures. 5,000 is change to them. Claiming you're taking advantage of that person is to talk down to their own sense of value. Again, value is arbitrary. Americans pay more in foreign lands for street food, but we don't give a shit, because it costs us 2$ in our currency instead of 1.20$. If a native made a big fuss that I was being ripped off and called me stupid for paying the extra 80 cents, I'd just walk away, completely and totally apathetic, because 80 cents has no value to me. Because, again, value is arbitrary.
Price gouging refers to dramatically raising the price of necessities like food, water, toiletries, and utilities in times of great need, which I agree is unethical. Buying a rare item on release day, and auctioning it off on ebay for a higher price later is normal, and not immoral at all. It's not immoral because we have free will and economic liberty in this country, so you can just not buy the damn thing. If enough people don't buy the damn thing, the guy who does that will stop doing it, because he's wasting money investing in a practice that doesn't pay out. If people do buy from him, then his market niche is working, and thus is 'worth' it. Worth is dictated by free will, people voluntarily exchanging money for goods.
*shakes head......You literally just used an example where quality was the determining factor in how price should be assessed. Are you even sure you know what you're arguing against here? Dude, you're misinterpreting what I've written. We're not talking about chalk and cheese. We're talking about you have fire, and I have fire and I sell mine at double the price of yours because a bunch of chad's on instagram and social media said it's better.
That post exemplified that price is arbitrary, not based on quality. The guy who grew really tenderly and slowly didn't get paid out in the end. Because the market didn't ask for it, because the market is based on people and their complex natures, and chose price point over quality. The same way people pay low dollars without understanding the difference in quality, people pay top dollars without understanding the difference in quality. Quality isn't measurable or quantifiable, and it isn't the only factor which price gets measured against. Because again, the market is based on voluntary exchange, and people's different personalities, values, perceptions, hobbies, interests, incomes, etc., all play a role in that voluntary exchange.