Nobody’s talking about DESTROYING the things you buy, are they? Zero-sum isn’t negative-sum. There’s a very real question of “can I decide how to use these better than a random less-foresightful person (who wanted to buy it later, but was unable because I bought the last)”? For me, the answer is clearly “yes”. If that’s by re-selling (or giving away) my surplus, great! If that’s by keeping my family safe instead of someone else’s, I can live with that.
As long as there is limited supply and unlimited (or just very large) demand, you’re doing no harm and some potential good by buying early. This is true on any timescale.
Nobody’s talking about DESTROYING the things you buy, are they? Zero-sum isn’t negative-sum. There’s a very real question of “can I decide how to use these better than a random less-foresightful person (who wanted to buy it later, but was unable because I bought the last)”? For me, the answer is clearly “yes”. If that’s by re-selling (or giving away) my surplus, great! If that’s by keeping my family safe instead of someone else’s, I can live with that.
As long as there is limited supply and unlimited (or just very large) demand, you’re doing no harm and some potential good by buying early. This is true on any timescale.