The difficulty of selling a Wii

[Final-Fan]

Eomund said:

Final-Fan said:

Eomund said:

Eomund said:

choirsoftheeye said:

Let's say there's a lake in Flatland. (i.e. hypothetical two-dimensional world, as if on a sheet of paper.) People live on the edge of this Flatlake, and use the water for various things. Then the Flatlake shrinks. cdude is like an entrepeneur who offers, for a fee, to shift the Flatlake so that is is closer to one group of people -- and consequently further from others. cdude makes his profit, and some people "benefit", but that doesn't make him ethical -- and he does NOT benefit the market in general.

What you are not taking into account between your example with Flatland and Real Life is that there is always more supply being pumped out by Nintendo. I also disagree with your premise that he "offers, for a fee, to shift the Flatlake so that is is closer to one group of people -- and consequently further from others." He isn't shifting the entire flatlake, he is more carrying a bucket of water for someone else. Does the person buying that bucket of water EXPECT to get his service for free? Not if the person is rational.

I do not see how Cdude is not benefitting the market in general either. If someone will buy it then it is a good transaction. That benefits the market, no? When supply shrinks and demand is still high, prices by necessity will rise if they aren't fixed. In this manner supply may meet demand.

He's taking a bucket that would have gone to someone for free (in the example), and selling it to someone for a price.  Just because it WORKS capitalistically doesn't make it A-OK.  The fact that the Wii is not in a closed system doesn't make a closed-system analogy a bad comparison.  As for how he fails to benefit the market, I explain this in the exchange I am having with cdude himself, although I also think that the example spells it out fairly clearly. 

And hey, I'll even make the Flatlake a perfect analogy for the Wii.  The full flatlake is "Wiis in stock in stores", smaller Flatlake is "Wiis available to people who get there soon after shipment arrives".  The Flatlake grows at a steady pace until it reaches full size, but the Flatlanders are currently using more than it replenishes.  cdude's "bucket" is the Wiis he deprives People A on the west lake shore to sell to People B on the eastern shore.  My analogy is now perfect to the Wii situation in the USA, or close enough for any reasonable purpose in this discussion.