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)
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>
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
“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?
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.