Nancy Classics by Ernie Bushmiller for August 30, 2017

Scare buying is a term for buying up large quantities of a product due to fear of imminent shortages of that item. During rationing periods in World War II, it was considered unfair to buy in such a way because it deprived others of the availability of the product, or it actually created shortages when there would have been no shortage otherwise. It would be like a rich person buying up all the bottled water in an area hit by a natural disaster, such as the recent hurricane, that cut off the usual sources of drinking water. I had a manager at one of my early jobs who heard about a “toilet paper shortage” and went out and bought hundreds of rolls of the stuff for the store he managed. What he missed hearing was that it was just a joke that had been told the night before on Johnny Carson’s show. We had paper for about five years after. The bad part is that it crowded our receiving and storage room, which was already small to begin with.

Yet – when the corporate big wigs do it it’s considered bravely taking a speculative risk and they get paid handsomely if the investment works out.

…But it’s Halloween!

The more things change…who would have thought that Ernie was a satirist of the times, even now!!!

In a strip dated August of 1950, I wonder what the root of that particular joke was. Unpatriotic? What was the shortage-fear of that time about, if this was a political accusation?