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The Annoyed Man wrote:

Panda wrote:The intrinsic value is the same no matter what the market does.

That is a fact, Jack! Thing is, the intrinsic value of a thing varies from person to person and object to object. Merriam Webster defines "intrinsic" as meaning "belonging to the essential nature or constitution of a thing <the intrinsic worth of a gem> <the intrinsic brightness of a star>." Well, the intrinsic value of diamonds changes daily. If a buyer wants one badly enough and pays $2500 for a $1250 rifle, then that is its intrinsic value.....to him (or her). This is true because your statement implies that the intrinsic value is always the lowest price that the same item might have been formerly available for. But even that intrinsic price is dependent on market forces. So in the end, the intrinsic value is a floating variable which is determined by how badly the person needs to have the item. That can be separate from what the market determines, but it more often than not it isn't. IF, hypothetically, a law was passed similar to FOPA but directed specifically against the proliferation and ownership of semiautomatic AR15s and AK47s, so that more more of either gun could ever be manufactured or imported into the U.S. for sale after 2013, then you could fully expect the intrinsic value of either of those guns to skyrocket exactly the same way as it did for M16s and M60s.

So in the end, the intrinsic value is exactly whatever the potential buyer is willing to pay, and just like the effect of FOPA on fully automatic weapons, market forces (and laws are a market force...which is only one reason why such laws are unjust) can determine a new intrinsic value that is far in excess of what someone is willing to pay for it, and it is no longer in any way tied to its original fabrication cost. For that reason, an M16 has no value to me. I don't want one badly enough to pay the hugely exorbitant buy-in price. But that price is never going to come down........unless you can convince Congress to rescind FOPA and a president to sign it. So the intrinsic value of an M16 is more than twenty times higher than the $800 or so that it costs to mass produce one (SOURCE), that is, unless you have the wherewithal to manufacture one of your own (legally) for $800. Then that is its intrinsic value.........unless you're like me, and then the intrinsic value is $0, because I just don't care enough about owning one to jump through all the legal and financial hoops to make it happen.

Beiruty wrote:With the blessing of my wife I am keeping mine. I do not buy junk anyways and mine should run like Swiss knife.