Finally the Xbox 360 is here!!!
Finally, the Xbox 360 European launch has happened. I still have mine on pre-order, so I should get mine soon. Of course by soon I mean several weeks (If not months as some message boards would suggest). The shortages of the new system are slightly annoying I must admit, but the way some people are talking about it you would think that it was on purpose. The reason people are able to complain at shortages is simply that supply matches demand so often in our daily life, that not being able to get hold of any item from a shop is so bizarre to most people that they start believing conspiracy theories.
Nobody my age has ever had to live through national shortages of food, water (excepting hosepipe bans, but that doesn’t count!) or clothing. Sure, most of us have had to do without something at some point due to a lack of funds, but huge supply shortages of vital goods are simply unheard of in our economy. When President Gorbachev was shown around an American convenience store on his visit to the country, he was convinced that the shelves had been specially stocked with good to impress him, the simple truth was that he could not comprehend how supply and demand could be matched to well, after all, how could anyone have enough information on what people want in a certain area at a certain time? This information in our economy is passed on through the price mechanism, which fluctuates with changes in supply and demand. This system works so well that we can get hold of pretty much anything we want (depending on cost of course), so when supply is constrained for external reasons, demand cannot be met and we are as shocked at the empty shelves as Gorbachev was at empty ones.
Although I am waiting very eagerly for my xbox 360, my hunger is tempered by the knowledge that there is nothing I can do to improve the situation, and that factory workers are at this very moment working to redress the balance between supply and demand that will find a nice shiny box sitting on my desk top. After all, at least we’re not waiting in queues for hours simply to be one of the lucky ones to get a loaf of bread.
Nobody my age has ever had to live through national shortages of food, water (excepting hosepipe bans, but that doesn’t count!) or clothing. Sure, most of us have had to do without something at some point due to a lack of funds, but huge supply shortages of vital goods are simply unheard of in our economy. When President Gorbachev was shown around an American convenience store on his visit to the country, he was convinced that the shelves had been specially stocked with good to impress him, the simple truth was that he could not comprehend how supply and demand could be matched to well, after all, how could anyone have enough information on what people want in a certain area at a certain time? This information in our economy is passed on through the price mechanism, which fluctuates with changes in supply and demand. This system works so well that we can get hold of pretty much anything we want (depending on cost of course), so when supply is constrained for external reasons, demand cannot be met and we are as shocked at the empty shelves as Gorbachev was at empty ones.
Although I am waiting very eagerly for my xbox 360, my hunger is tempered by the knowledge that there is nothing I can do to improve the situation, and that factory workers are at this very moment working to redress the balance between supply and demand that will find a nice shiny box sitting on my desk top. After all, at least we’re not waiting in queues for hours simply to be one of the lucky ones to get a loaf of bread.
posted by Dan at 11:03 AM
1 Comments:
Pfff, bread is over-rated!
I like your calmness, I too have been reading many message boards, and personally I have found that they help me forget what I'm waiting for due to the sheer hilarity of the stupidness of most people! Seriously, you would think certain members of their family would be, or have been, killed they way they talk because they haen't received it yet!
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