Moreover, consumers have a right to take revenge. If a retailer price-gauges during an emergency, consumers can just go elsewhere when there isn't one.
Jacoby... the one voice of sanity at the Boston Globe.
I don't think he adequately addressed the allocation principle involved. Using bottled water as an example, imagine that no price increase occured. The first few customers of the "water store" would buy all the water and none would be left for future customers with the same need for water. If the prices increase ten fold, the first customers will only buy enough water to meet their most basic need for bottled water, therefore more customers will be able to meet this most basic need. The high prices make sure that more people can meet their needs.
Where I went to high school it was, but unfortunately, it was taught by a socialist.
The "system that could instantly respond to a calamity like Hurricane Charley by mobilizing suppliers to speed urgently needed resources to the victims." The system that can" ...quickly attract the out-of-town manpower needed for cleanup and repairs, while seeing to it that existing supplies were neither recklessly squandered nor hoarded." And the system that..." could prompt thousands of men and women to act in the public interest, yet not force anyone to do anything against his will," is the Church and its many, many relief ministries that are down here right now dispensing grace and mercy right where they can meet human need!
Price gougers are buzzards and rank only slightly above the looters.