Shortage of generators in north New Jersey? Not Craigslist, where market prices prevail

aei-ideas.org ^

[virgil283]

"There are more than 600 listings on the North New Jersey Craigslist for portable generators. The active market for gas generators on Craigslist demonstrates that government enforcement of “price gouging” laws doesn’t eliminate voluntary market transactions for critical items like generators at market-based prices,"...I'm thinking what can be learned for this storm. Even a small generator could run the blower in the house gas furnace...With debris around a bicycle can be the best way to get around. Get gasoline out of the car's tank for the generator....

[virgil283]

: 'Well, maybe if Home Depot, Sears and Lowe’s had been allowed to raise their prices to $1,000 (or more) this week to reflect the true value of gas generators following the hurricane, more people with children would actually have a generator right now because the retailers wouldn’t have sold out so fast! And you really can’t blame the retailers for not raising prices, because they could have been charged with price gouging by the state of New Jersey'----

[wiggen]

You know thats an article making a claim that may or may not have any validity. Who’s to say if the raised prices it wouldn’t have gotten even more speculators involved offering at 1500 instead of 1000? Second Who’s to say families who don’t have a generator could afford even $700?
There are multiple unproven and unfounded theories in that article. We don’t even know if any of those people trying to sell a generator have even made a sale yet. They may have made no sale simply because there’s no current demand. Most people without power have to my knowledge have found other accommodations either on their own or with help from the govt or the power company.

[mjp]

In return many people are without a generator – many little children don’t have electricity in their homes because their parents can’t afford to pay twice the price of a generator from price gouging!”

In a free country, an increased demand for a good in limited supply naturally is followed by an increase in price. That is the way an unhampered price system works, and that is the way it is supposed to work. In order to prevent a shortage,prices need to rise enough to equalize the quantity demanded with the quantity supplied.

The above is not price gauging. True price gouging is when prices are too high due to government subsidies to industries like agriculture which results in higher than free market food prices. They are an illustration of legal minimum prices-that is, prices below which the government prevents the producers from selling.

[count-your-change]

How many of those generators on Craigslist are being sold? and if sold at what price?

[sbMKE]

The problem with buying a generator of NJ Craigslist is that you can’t help but have to complete the transaction in a dark alley.

[count-your-change]

The problem is that the buyer or seller must deliver the thing to a specific point. If one can be delivered or picked up then a hundred could.

In short, what's on the list is meaningless unless the price can be met and the item delivered to where it is needed. So who cares about Craigslist?