This story has all the earmarks of an urban legend. Are there any other sources for this story?

I think the average consumers access to information between now and then has massively changed. That isn't to say you can't have the same effect, just you need more talking heads to sell it. One person saying there is a shortage won't cause a swing. Several seemingly trustworthy sources may be enough though (imagine oprah or [insert news anchor here]).

In the UK we've had runs on petrol and bottled water in the last couple of years. Basically when a government spokesman says "don't panic the country isn't running out of X" then everyone rushes out and buys X immediately.

What am I missing here? (Why is this on the front page?)

It's an interesting tidbit on economics and mass psychology. Also the effect is most likely is being used "hack" the economy.

There's almost no content here. The post consists of a personal anecdote that loosely segues into what sounds more like an urban legend than reality, not backed by a source; in other words, this really isn't newsworthy imo.