Check out these prices

[CtrlAltBernanke]

Can't believe somebody would buy at these prices. $64+ for a ASE, $29,000+ for a monster box. You know the government has no problem prosecuting gas price gougers when it comes to gas and hurricane sandy but when I guess it comes to silver and AR-15 30 round magazines that's okay.

http://www.shopnbc.com/SearchM/Default. ... r%20eagles

[Sterling Silver]

I am seeing 2013 Silver eagle's going cheaper on Ebay than APMEX. Interesting times.

[natsb88]

You know the government has no problem prosecuting gas price gougers when it comes to gas and hurricane sandy...

The gas shortages during Sandy were caused by the "anti price gouging" laws in NY and NJ. The cost of supply went up, and nobody wanted to fill their underground tanks because those "consumer protection" laws limit how much the gas stations can raise their prices during an emergency. Why would they want to go through the hassle of trucking in gas from other locations, if they can only break even or make a negligible profit, plus risk getting stuck with a tank full of expensive gas when everybody else waits and refills when it comes back down? If the market had been allowed to do its thing, the prices probably would have been $10 a gallon, but there would have been plenty to go around for those who really needed it. Instead, the prices stayed regulated to $3 - $4, but there wasn't a drop to be found.

AR mags are selling for 3-10x what they were a few weeks ago. But obviously people are buying at those prices, or the retailers would be sitting on mountains of them. Instead, they can't get them in fast enough. That's the free market reacting to a sudden increase in demand (panic buying) when the supply stays relatively steady (it takes awhile to ramp up production, can't just flip a switch and magically make twice as many mags tomorrow as you did yesterday). If the government stepped in and regulated the price to $10, they would be backordered so long you'd be lucky to get them in 2015, and the manufacturer's would have little incentive to make big investments to increase production because their margin hasn't increased.

Price controls don't work. When the government steps in to "make things fair," they really just make things more scarce, or drive manufacturers out of business by setting impossibly low price ceilings.

Anyway, back on subject...

Yes, ShopNBC's coin prices are almost always ridiculous. But they wouldn't be continuously pushing them at that price if they weren't selling enough to make it worthwhile.