Should I blame free market capitalism for this?

[Neil Desmond]

Practically every weekend I have been going to a place that I will not name (but I'll give a hint: they're a franchise that exists predominantly along the east coast of the US) which sells donuts. I love their lemon donuts. I love them so much I want to marry them. In the past, not very often, when I would go there to buy some, they'd be out of them. Being out of stock once in a while is something I can live with. Last weekend, they didn't have any & at the time I assumed that this was one of those once in a while moments when they were out. Today though, again, they didn't have any, and I was horrified to hear the nightmarish news that the clerk told me: "we haven't had any in weeks."

Right now I am dismayed and I want to blame something. What should I blame, free market capitalism for failing to deliver? I think it is, but I'll give someone a chance to persuade me otherwise.

- Neil Desmond's stomach

 

[tod evans]

If it relates to donuts it's the cops fault.

 

[AlexAmore]

I'll have to meditate on this.

 

[Origanalist]

First they came for the donuts.

 

[Cleaner44]

The wheat is ready to thresh into grain. Who will help me thresh the wheat?

 

[Icymudpuppy]

They haven't had any in weeks?

They don't make them in shop?

Most donut places I know of bake in house, even franchises like Krispy Kreme, Dunkin Donuts, etc. Each donut franchise location has their own ovens and fryers for in house fresh donut creation.

If they haven't had them, that means they aren't making them. Why not? Not enough sales to justify purchasing the lemon filler maybe? Maybe the franchise supplies lemon filler and discontinued that product meaning that if your shop wants to continue making lemon donuts, they'll have to purchase filler outside the franchise system which will dramatically increase their cost and maybe as much as double the cost of a lemon donut.

You should ask the owner (not the manager) of the shop why lemon donuts are no longer available, and what if anything you, as a consumer, can do to encourage their return.

 

[Matthew5]

Can you imagine, dear komrades, a system where lemon donuts are given to everyone! No longer will the fat cat, elite Wall Street bankers be able to purchase the lemon donuts to merely sit in a mahogany board room whilst they plan the demise of proletariat! Let's burn down their bourgeois capitalist castles!

 

[CaptUSA]

The terrorists are winning.

It's a North Korean/Syrian/Iranian/Al Qaeda plot to deprive Americans of our freedom to enjoy lemony goodness. Obviously, we need to kill more brown people and our lemony treats will once again flow like the Potomac!

 

[ILUVRP]

my guess its helicopter ben buying up all the lemons , he's going to drop them on wall street .

 

[PSYOP]

Ask Nikola Tesla what he thinks about free market capitalism.

 

[Neil Desmond]

The wheat is ready to thresh into grain. Who will help me thresh the wheat?

My econ professor taught us that self sufficiency leads to poverty.

 

[helmuth_hubener]

It would take more research to determine who is to blame. Chances are low that it's the donut shop, because they are missing out on potential profits by not having these popular donuts available. Chances are good it's the state.

 

[Neil Desmond]

They haven't had any in weeks?

They don't make them in shop?

Most donut places I know of bake in house, even franchises like Krispy Kreme, Dunkin Donuts, etc. Each donut franchise location has their own ovens and fryers for in house fresh donut creation.

If they haven't had them, that means they aren't making them. Why not? Not enough sales to justify purchasing the lemon filler maybe? Maybe the franchise supplies lemon filler and discontinued that product meaning that if your shop wants to continue making lemon donuts, they'll have to purchase filler outside the franchise system which will dramatically increase their cost and maybe as much as double the cost of a lemon donut.

You should ask the owner (not the manager) of the shop why lemon donuts are no longer available, and what if anything you, as a consumer, can do to encourage their return.

Yeah, that's my point. It could be that they weren't selling enough, or it could be that as you say, the company that makes the filler discontinued making it or went out of business. At least if they still sold them for double the price I could still decide whether I want to pay double or not; but that's not being provided as an option, and I'm not sure that economic forces accommodate that kind of market or demand. It seems like if demand is low but cost is high, a vendor would rather discontinue offering the product or service in question.

I might do that - contact the owner to find out what's going on. But first I'll have to find out if it's just this one franchise branch, or is it all of them that discontinued this product.

 

[green73]

Either you're the only one who likes them or some state regulation has fuck something up.

 

[Neil Desmond]

Can you imagine, dear komrades, a system where lemon donuts are given to everyone! No longer will the fat cat, elite Wall Street bankers be able to purchase the lemon donuts to merely sit in a mahogany board room whilst they plan the demise of proletariat! Let's burn down their bourgeois capitalist castles!

Now I'm not saying that I want to resort to socialized donuts or state capitalism (I think they'd make things worse overall), but it seems like what people would like to achieve, or maybe do think has been achieved, with free market capitalism isn't happening, just like utopia hasn't happened so far.

 

[Natural Citizen]

My econ professor taught us that self sufficiency leads to poverty.

That's because self sufficiency leads to survival. Economics folk aren't much interested in that aspect of the squabble. Is purely a human/natural phenomenon. Growth though...that's an entirely different phenomenon. One reserved for economics professors (historically speaking, of course).

As far as the donuts? Well...we've always had this illusion of choice. 20 or so different flavors. Yet with politics we only get two choices. Maybe it's just a sign of the times. Who knows....

Did you see the video of the woman who couldn't have any mcnuggets? That was a hoot.

 

[tod evans]

There was a chocolate donut thread yesterday that had racist overtures.....

What's up with this one?

 

[Neil Desmond]

The terrorists are winning.

It's a North Korean/Syrian/Iranian/Al Qaeda plot to deprive Americans of our freedom to enjoy lemony goodness. Obviously, we need to kill more brown people and our lemony treats will once again flow like the Potomac!

​

 

[Neil Desmond]

my guess its helicopter ben buying up all the lemons , he's going to drop them on wall street .

​

 

[Neil Desmond]

Ask Nikola Tesla what he thinks about free market capitalism.

That's deep.