I know...I sound like a crank.

It's both fascinating and horrifying to me to see speculation re-enter the sports card and comic markets. 

It seems sudden and full-blown, but I think it has been developing for awhile now. The recent explosion has to do with shortages created by the plague. It doesn't take much of shortage to create demand, which of course creates shortage, which creates demand, which...well, you get the picture.

This can go on for years. It's a vicious cycle rather than a virtuous cycle. (More on virtuous cycles in my next post.) The problem with shortages creating demand is this: supply always catches up with demand eventually.

I'm watching this whole phenomenon with amazement because it has the exact same dynamics I remember from 25 years ago. It's an entire ecosystem. I was part of that ecosystem years ago because I was as taken in as anyone else.

But once you know it's fraudulent and ethically dubious, there is no way to join that ecosystem without giving up your own ethical standards.

 I also realized last time this happened that there are two types of purveyors: those who are "shopkeepers" and those who are "wheeler-dealers." In the long run, shopkeepers survive. Being a wheeler-dealer is in some ways antithetical to serving your customers. 

Of course, to anyone within that bubble, I sound like a crank. I accept that and don't try to change anyone's minds because it won't do any good. They're completely convinced, and for a long time they will make money off the whole process. But unless they quit at some point while they're ahead, they'll keep going until they aren't making money and in fact losing money. Either that, or they'll quit by being vaguely dissatisfied, either not knowing why or attributing it to the wrong reasons.

John Maynard Keynes said, “the markets can remain irrational longer than you can remain solvent.”

Fortunately, Pegasus Books has evolved to the point where we aren't hostage to these dynamics. Thank goodness.