> Econ 101 would be understanding that you can’t snap your fingers and have a new DRAM factory online overnight, and that this isn’t an indicator that the market is not functioning.

Wasn't there this whole legal thing a couple of years ago involving most of the dram manufacturers?

> Econ 101 would be understanding that you can’t snap your fingers and have a new DRAM factory online overnight, and that this isn’t an indicator that the market is not functioning.

You can quibble over my usage of “functioning,” but all I’m referring to are the textbook characteristics of perfect competition. I’m not claiming that someone is to blame if any of these conditions don’t hold. Of course they never hold perfectly in practice!

I’m not trying to blame anyone for the fact that it takes a lot of money and time to get a new DRAM factory online. I’m just saying that this fact is bad for essentially everyone except for the small number of current DRAM producers.

> You’re defining a market “functioning well” as meaning the price is low for you and all demand is satisfied immediately without raising prices.

Well, yes, that’s pretty much the only reason to advocate for competitive markets, isn’t it? If you don’t want allocative efficiency and productive efficiency, then what do you want?