XPost: alt.fan.sean-hannity, talk.politics.misc, alt.politics.democrats   
   From: summer@here.com   
      
   I’m shocked by one aspect of the story of the guy selling $30   
   hot dogs to tourists near the World Trade Center — shocked that   
   he was fired. Who knew hot-dog men could be fired?   
      
   As for that other detail — selling a hot dog for considerably   
   “more than it’s worth,” so what? Apple makes a huge profit on   
   every device it sells. Does anyone think Apple is guilty of   
   “price gouging”? Moreover, a hot dog is guaranteed not to   
   shatter when it falls on the sidewalk, and I’ve never had to   
   reboot my sauerkraut. No hot dog has ever been rendered obsolete   
   by a new model that has a slightly thinner bun.   
      
   Hot-dog guy Ahmed Mohammed — let’s be accurate and call him Hot   
   Dog Hero — was simply exercising his right to sell stuff in the   
   marketplace for whatever he can get for it. Why begrudge him a   
   large markup if he took advantage of the fact that some people   
   are stupid? Taking advantage of stupidity is an important driver   
   of the economic engine. Without taking advantage of stupid   
   people, how would haute-couture designers sell a couple yards of   
   shiny fabric for $2,000? Without taking advantage of stupid   
   people, how would the New York State Lottery rake in $3 billion   
   in profit? Without taking advantage of stupid people, how would   
   the Franklin Mint have sold off millions of dollars worth of   
   plastic copies of Jackie Onassis’ plastic pearls? If the   
   stupidity were ever wrung out of the system, our economy would   
   be the size of Bangladesh’s.   
      
   All of these stupid people are exactly what Hot Dog Hero’s   
   “victims” were — willing customers. There was no coercion. No   
   one was being lied to. What your mother said when you were   
   talked into doing something dumb still applies: “Did anyone hold   
   a gun to your head?” At worst, HDH was guilty of a little   
   nontransparency, but if that policy were consistently enforced   
   the courts would be overloaded with restaurant operators who   
   don’t publish their cocktail prices on the menu.   
      
   A good or service doesn’t have a fixed worth — the value can   
   vary wildly depending on the circumstances. This is why Uber   
   charges $10 for some cab rides, but considerably more when it’s   
   11:30 on New Year’s Eve in a blizzard. People complaining about   
   Uber’s “gouging” don’t understand that the option to purchase a   
   service at market price is better than not having that option   
   because the service is simply unavailable. People don’t want to   
   climb out of bed and drive you anywhere in a blizzard for 10   
   bucks.   
      
   Is a hot dog ever “worth” $30? Anything is “worth” whatever   
   someone else is willing to pay for it. Anyone who didn’t like   
   Hot Dog Hero’s price could have said, “Get the frank out of   
   here” and handed over $3 — or handed back the wiener and walked   
   away. Wouldn’t that be easier than filing a complaint? If you   
   did file a complaint, you should probably send it to your home   
   address: “Self, we need to have a talk about what constitutes a   
   reasonable price for a hot dog.”   
      
   Sorry, tourists, if you feel you were “ripped off.” Let’s look   
   at what you got for your $30. You got a) a tasty snack; b)   
   enough bacteria to inoculate you against any number of diseases;   
   c) a stellar anecdote about American capitalist depravity to   
   take back to Düsseldorf or Lyon; d) a useful lesson that there’s   
   a sucker born every minute — such as the minute listed on your   
   birth certificate.   
      
   http://nypost.com/2015/05/22/the-30-hot-dog-guy-is-a-capitalist-   
   hero/   
       
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)