Archive for November 13th, 2009

Supply and demand

November 13th, 2009

You have to laugh.

Cancer Society demands €1 hike in price of cigarettes.

What do they want that €1 used for?

Combat cigarette smuggling.

Here, ladies and gentlemen, we have an example of a complete ignorance of the most basic fundamentals of supply and demand.

I am currently smoking pipe tobacco that I bought in France.  It cost me €6.50 a pack. If I were to buy the equivalent quantity here, it would cost me €16 a pack. Now, if I can find someone on a street corner or in a pub who will sell me that tobacco at six or seven yoyos a pop, am I going to refuse?  There is a demand, so there will be a supply.

Trying to combat the sale of cheap imported cigarettes by increasing the price of the local ones is sheer madness.

But then I see that The Irish Cancer Society is one of the main sponsors of ASH.

NOW it makes sense.