[Alberta's Child]

Charity and heroics are fine but but do you think you should be required by law to risk your life or your business to help others?

Absolutely not.

Here's the irony of the whole situation we're discussing here . . .

Let's suppose the "base" price for bottled water is $2 per gallon, and after a natural disaster there would be a move by merchants to raise the price to $10. If they are prohibited from raising the price (due to anti-gouging laws), they are going to keep selling their water at $2 per gallon. And they are going to run out of water very quickly.

To make up for this shortage of water, large-scale relief efforts are undertaken by government agencies as well as private charities. The "demand" for water will eventually be met through these efforts.

If you were to look at these relief efforts in detail and calculate the cost of delivering fresh water to the people living in the disaster area, I can guarantee you that the cost will exceed the $10 per gallon that the merchants weren't permitted to charge.

[Dan Evans]

calculate the cost of delivering fresh water to the people living in the disaster area, I can guarantee you that the cost will exceed the $10 per gallon that the merchants weren't permitted to charge

Right. The value of a thing is what it costs to replace it. Merchants should not be expected to sell things for less than their value.

[Don Joe]

Sad, perplexed, "what have they been teaching people for the past few decades?" ping.