>Allowing the market to select prices that keep masks in stock is the opposite!
In this situation it also makes sure that the rich can be a lot better protected from a virus than the poor, that is not ethical in my mind. Yes, the market will produce more, but that takes time, time during which people die.
The rich are better off in every way than the poor, every day. That's the nature of life. It isn't fair. Life being unfair doesn't mean something unethical is happening. Ostensibly, those that have the money to pay more either worked more for it, got luckier, or someone else who worked harder or got luckier loved them enough to gift them their wealth. Why should people be punished for luck or receiving a gift (inheritance) because it's 'unfair' to other people who weren't so lucky?
It isn't the rich peoples' fault, or the poor peoples', that there was a sudden surge in demand for these goods, or that the market did its job in adjusting the goods to their new real price in order to keep them on shelves. That's exactly what you want. Otherwise, no amount of luck or hard work will allow you to get that good even if you really, really, want it, and are willing to sacrifice other goods in order to pay the elevated -- but worth it, due to the circumstances -- price, because that elevated price was banned by people crying about "price gouging."
