I've been bothered much ever since the primitives and sub-primitives have been whining, harping, moaning, groaning, complaining about high gasoline and high grocery prices, suggesting some people are making boatloads of money, more than what they deserve.
A couple of weeks ago here, appropos of nothing, I mentioned that marijuana circa 1979-1980 cost one ten dollars a bag, an ounce.
RebelKev illuminated me that nowadays, marijuana cost circa $160 a bag.
I was stunned; I could think of no other consumer good that has increased 16 times over in price at a time when the cost of living, wages and salaries, whatnot, increased circa only three times.
This morning, when I was chitchatting with the county sheriff, he verified that, yes, during the 1970s, marijuana was sold for about ten bucks a bag. And that at least in this area, it currently sells for $150-175 a bag.
Wow.
Given that marijuana, if consistent with the costs of other goods and services, should be available for, say, $30 a bag in 2008, I wondered why the price has skyrocketed, and if the marijuana industry might in fact be making excessive windfall profits.
There are risks associated with business, and in the marijuana industry, one assumes the largest risk is the risk of getting caught, ending up with a record, a fine, and perhaps even jail time. Such a hazardous risk would surely drive prices of a commodity upward.
I asked the sheriff if the law is harder now, than it was then.
He said no, the law's much much softer than it used to be, regarding selling marijuana.
So that risk has diminished, to where it seems no more hazardous to deal in marijuana than it is to deal in Norman Rockwell collector plates.
Then I thought about the quality of the product; perhaps marijuana today is improved in quality, justifying a higher price.
The sheriff said no, the quality of marijuana available for sale has always been variable, and still is variable.
Sometimes one gets good weed, sometimes one gets bad weed.
Okay, then I thought about the quantity of marijuana; perhaps there's less marijuana available for sale, than there used to be.
The sheriff said no, there's more marijuana on the market than there's ever been.
I left our conversation perplexed.
Less risk, same quality, more quantity.
In a rational market, that should drive down prices, not increase them, especially not 16 times over.
So where are the primitives and sub-primitives building bonfires complaining of the excess windfall profits of the marijuana industry? If the primitives and sub-primitives are willing to lynch grocery and gas executives for a threefold increase in prices, surely the primitives and sub-primitives should be willing to lynch marijuana profiteers even higher.
Yeah, right.
I was made aware of a tactic used by marijuana profiteers to drive the price up even further, in which panic is deliberately infused into the consumers of the good. If the Nebraska state patrol for example, seizes 20 pounds of marijuana on Interstate 80, "word" gets around that Nebraska's running out of marijuana. And the customers willingly accept the higher price for what they imagine is a rarer product.
Ditto for whenever the U.S. Customs Services nabs an airplane for example, down in Mexico or in the Caribbean Sea, carrying circa 10,000 pounds of marijuana. Word gets around that ohmygod, America's running short on marijuana, and the consumers willingly pay the higher price.
You know, I'm not too fond of the excess windfall profits made by the marijuana industry, or of the marketing practices of the marijuana industry (this creating a baseless panic about the supply), and I can't figure out why the primitives and sub-primitives aren't as upset as I am.
These guys make the oil companies look like Santa Claus or Mother Teresa, in comparison.
