Go back and read my first reply to you. The increase in the price of gas isn't gouging because there is a looming shortage. That wouldn't be gouging under Florida law. However, before Andrew, human dirt would show up and corner the market in something like power generators and then sell them after the storm for a 1000% markup. That doesn't happen anymore.
"However, before Andrew, human dirt would show up and corner the market in something like power generators and then sell them after the storm for a 1000% markup. That doesn't happen anymore"
And were these people forced at gunpoint to buy these generators?
Are the people who had money to pay a %1000 percent markup for a generator, but can't now because of this law, better off without the generators?
You only want to feel good about the policy itself. You don't give a rats ass about the negative impact it has on people who are in desperate need. But hey, as long as somebody who REALLY needs a generator is protected from himself paying too much for it, you should feel all warm and fuzzy inside.
Again, is it preferable that everyone waits in line at Walmart for the next shipment of "appropriately" priced generators, if they ever show up, or for people willing to pay 1000 or 2000 to be able to do so, thus leaving more of the cheaper ones to those who need them?
So how many people will die because of that law? If you have a kid on a home dialysis machine and your power goes out would you rather wait until power is restored and your kid dies, or would it be better to purchase a generator marked up 1000% in the meantime?
Your grasp of economics is deficient. How does a guy selling generators off his tailgate "corner" a market? It's laughable. Anyone could theoretically do the same, but the fact that they don't should be a clue to you that your analysis is flawed.
The fellow you call "human dirt" is actually doing you a big favor. He went and risked his money to buy chainsaws or generators or bottled water or what have you, and he trundled them hundreds or thousands of miles to bring them to the disaster area. He takes the risk of himself being caught in the disaster or its aftermath. He is a target for looters and other criminal elements. He forces no one to buy his products, products that otherwise would not be available at any price for days or weeks. If he misjudged the severity of the disaster, he could get stuck with thousands of dollars of unsold goods. Yet he goes ahead and invests his time and money anyway.
Your "human dirt" is a hero, and a better American than you. If you don't like his prices, feel free to set a noble example, and do without whatever he is selling.
Anti-gouging laws are a sop to selfish, ignorant voters from venal politicans. They both get to pat themselves on the back for their good intentions, while the supply of necessary disaster-recovery goods dwindles.
-ccm
If that's more than you want to pay, then don't buy one.
That doesn't happen anymore.
...and as a side effect, there are fewer generators available when they're really needed, *and* fewer people plan ahead and buy a generator before the next emergency, fueling deeper shortages when the next hurricane arrives.
I don't see that as an improvement.
'Price gouging' in Florida
Thomas Sowell
http://www.townhall.com/columnists/thomassowell/ts20040914.shtml
"It is essentially the same story when stores are selling ice, plywood, gasoline, or other things for prices that reflect today's supply and demand, rather than yesterday's supply and demand. Price controls will not cause new supplies to be rushed in nearly as fast as higher prices will."
" However, before Andrew, human dirt would show up and corner the market in something like power generators and then sell them after the storm for a 1000% markup. That doesn't happen anymore."
Stopping it is wrong. The guy is entitled to the markup from anyone that is willing to pay the price. Where do you think anyone has the right to dictate the price someone is asking for a service or commodity.
No private citizen owes any one anything.
Right you are. And the entrepreneurs in Georgia and the Carolinas loading generators (and plywood, and dry ice, and chainsaws, and...) onto trucks and rushing them to the disaster area to sell at a big markup? That doesn't happen anymore, either.
Question: which method ends up with more generators at the disaster scene: the "gouge away" method, with "human-dirt" speculators (cornered local inventory) plus entrepreneurs (full carpetbags), or the "no gouging" method (local inventory only)?
Some years ago, there was a bad spell of winter weather here in PA. Everything kept melting in the day and re-freezing overnight. The stores were denuded of rock salt. A neighbor hopped in his car and drove to Northern Virginia, loaded up his car with rock salt at $1 or $2 a bag, drove it back to Philly, and sold it out of his trunk at $10 a bag. Everyone was damn glad to get it at that price, and he did well by doing good. I'm glad no government protected me from him.