Reply #22: No one was claiming that it was the government who was doing the rationing. [View All]

I think that you don't really understand what the term 'rationing' means. Ration booklets and government mandated programs are not necessary to have rationing occur.

Rationing is the controlled distribution of resources and scarce goods or services. As you pointed out Nintendo Wiis are a scarce good, particularly when they were first sold or around the holidays, and stores implemented a form of rationing in order to control their distribution. It isn't all that uncommon for rationing like that to occur.

What is uncommon is for this to happen with food staples. You might not see any difference between being limited in how much flour, oil, or rice you can buy and how many Nintendos you can buy, but there is a significant difference.