Posted on 11/06/2012 5:31:08 AM PST by blam
Edited on 11/06/2012 5:32:56 AM PST by Admin Moderator. [history]
More than 400 possible cases of price gouging of gasoline and other essentials, including a $10 box of matches and $7 loaf of bread, have been reported in New York before and after Sandy.
Reports are being investigated in New York City, the Hudson Valley and on Long Island by state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman.
(Excerpt) Read more at nbcnewyork.com ...
It’s not price gouging.
When there are only 3 boxes of matches left,
and some guy is buying up every box in sight,
he’ll stop doing so and let someone else who needs it worse
when the price becomes high enough for him to say “I already have enough”.
High prices in an emergency prevent hoarding and promote efficient distribution of needed resources.
Who do I report economic ignorance to?
Basic economics teaches that there is no such thing as price gounging, merely pricing that allocates a limited supply. Unfortunately, most politicians have no understanding of economics and prefer to demagogue the matter through self-serving statements and pandering.
And.......the voters of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut will vote like good commies and socialists for Obama to keep doing them in!!! What buffoons, dummies & fools!!!
The hand-written sign taped to the door at the Red Hook Houses said it all – “WE ARE NOT ANIMALS!”
A full week after Hurricane Sandy came and went, thousands of furious Housing Authority tenants in Brooklyn, Queens and Manhattan struggled Monday to survive in squalid conditions as NYCHA scrambled in vain to turn on power, heat and water.
“Nobody comes here to help. It’s the land of the lost,” declared a frustrated Ralph Fret, 64, pointing at the black fetid water that remained in the basement of his building - nearly to the ceiling. “You see all that water? You see a pump anywhere? They’re not doing anything.”
As of Monday some 20,000 NYCHA tenants at 108 buildings in 17 projects in Brooklyn, Queens and Lower Manhattan remained in the dark on many levels – living without heat, water, elevators and light but also without word from officials about when things might get back to normal.
(snip)
But...But...It’s NOT FAIR ( dumbasses didn’t stock up pre-emergency).
It’s OK, because Hurricane Sandy gave New York and New Jersey an economic boost because of all the reconstruction that will be needed.
So everyone will have money soon.
</sarcasm>
Yours is the rational opinion. Alas, the average schmuck reacts emotively to these things, and the politicians know it.
For a 100 dollars spent before the storm most people would have been much better off.
I do not have very much sympathy for people who did not perpare some what.
A fact lost on politicians and media morons.
I wonder what they’re doing?
It always mystifies me. Disaster recovery and shelters should only need a supervisory staff. The victims and refuge seekers should provide most of the labor.
But if a store owner can adjust the price, why not limit
items ‘one to a customer’?
Covered for Obama
No - animals would have been better prepared. Public housing inhabitants are by definition those who made poor life choices and decided that public housing was better than busting their asses working for a living.
Nobody comes here to help. It’s the land of the lost,” declared a frustrated Ralph Fret, 64,
So get off your "frustrated" lazy dead ass and do something for yourself Ralph you useless POS. My sympathy meter for those in public housing who expect their fellow citizens to come and provide them the necessities of life for nothing pegs at zero. This is the 0bama voter entitlement mentality for all to see. "I have a problem. When is somone else going to fix it?" SCREW PEOPLE IN PUBLIC HOUSING! DO SOMETHING FOR YOURSELVES YOU LAZY SH!TS OR FREEZE. And frankly freeze would be best for everyone else.
I reserve my sympathy for the hardworking New Yorkers (even though they most likely will vote for 0bama)who actually lost something that THEY worked for.
That is why I posted this:
Price controls like this cause more problems than good. They deter increasing supply to meet demand, and vice versa.
This happened in Florida after Hurricane what’s her face a few years ago. A man loaded a truck with much needed and much wanted water bottles. He drove to Florida to sell the bottle at $4 each only to be stopped and fined for “price gouging”. The water didn’t make it to it’s desination and the people didn’t get gouged. They had no water but at least they saved money. `sarc
Suppose a customer legitimately needs more than one. Price provides a better determinant as to the actual quantity of something that one may "need" Example bread: One guy is single, another has two kids. Which is better letting the market determine price so that supply matches demand or limiting consumption? This sort of micromismanagement is what caused the Soviet economy to fail.
Exactly, “gouging” and “hoarding” aren’t even taught in economics classes.
“Reports are being investigated in New York City, the Hudson Valley and on Long Island by state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman.”
What exactly is Eric Schneiderman investigating? Is free enterprise a prosecutable offense now?
Wow. An article about Sandy. Seems like it isn’t a big deal at all to the media. Just a few million people starving and freezing.
If obama can stop the rise of the oceans and heal the earth, why can’t he help the people he SAYS he cares about. Just wave your magic wand owebama. Why are you letting people starve and freeze? Playing some hoops instead mr. Preezy?
Yep, I may “need” two boxes of matches, and be willing to pay the $20, but if I don’t REALLY need a third box, I’ll spend the $10 on something else that I do.
However, if that box was only $2, I would probably go ahead and get a couple more just in case. Then the next guy would be willing to pay a lot more, but they’re all gone because I was willing to spend for the “just in case”.
If they sold them at a normal price, the purchaser would just turn around and sell it at the higher price....the invisible hand will not be denied.
He might do that if he wanted the widest distribution of a product instead of the quickest return of his investment and profit.
But typically the merchant wants to sell out a stock at a profit and reinvest in more in a profitable cycle. He wants customers to return and even gain new ones.
The politician has a different motive. He represents a group of people and it's in his interests to serve their needs as widely and completely as possible.
He has no profit and loss statement to concern himself with but operating within the bounds of available resources.
He may indeed say one item to a person or such to make what will be seen as a “fair” allocation to those who can reelect him or otherwise support him in office.
Which one of us would want the police to only serve those neighborhoods that could pay enough to allow a “profit” on their service.
But a merchant can do that. He can ration by price if his supply is limited. So Kolbe beef is rationed by its $50-$100/lb. price to those able and willing to pay for it.
As is evident the politician and the merchant operate under different constraints and are guided by different motives.
Raising the price on 3 boxes of matches means absolutely nothing, just do what stores always do and limit the items per person.
Raising a price beyond the ability of the wealthy to purchase what they want of it, hardly makes it available to the regular people.
I'd be inclined to give those guys a little bit of a break.
When I lived in an apartment, I didn't own a pump suitable for emptying a flooded basement.
Even if one of them did have a pump, where would they get the power to run it?
1. How did I fail and let myself get in this situation?
2. Now, how will I survive and get out of this situation,
3. What will I do to prevent this ever happening again.
I'm just being a hard-assed...as I think I have planned for most any situation that can happen.
Because....It's Always Something. (IAS)
Yeah, there is that whole issue of “living within storm-surge distance of the shoreline”.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.