--- ...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.---
You fail to see the real benefit of anti-gouging laws: It makes the citizens FEEL better. About themselves. About the government that panders to them.
The actual results don't matter. What matters is that they had good intentions when they passed the law!
Who cares if a diabetic needs a generator for insulin because his old one broke down after the storm. He might have to pay 3 times retail cost for it! Thank God the benevolent government is there to protect him from being gouged like that!
(BTW, the benevolent government will be by in 7-10 days to pick up his dead-from-diabetic-shock body. Please leave it by the curb, covered in a blanket. Thank you. Signed, The government.)
If, in fact, he has a confiscation-liable wad of cash handy. (And anyhow, a bag of ice wrapped in a blanket should suffice; a generator is way overkill.) Generally when there are humongous disasters like this, you will see a rush of supplies sent in FREE by various companies and agencies.
(BTW, the benevolent government will be by in 7-10 days to pick up his dead-from-diabetic-shock body. Please leave it by the curb, covered in a blanket. Thank you. Signed, The government.)
If he couldn't afford the pump at the price the gouger is selling it at, he will be dead in 7-10 days from diabetic shock also. So the end game would be the same. And I'll bet if the gougers were stopped from gouging, there would still be plenty of pumps out there at a reasonable price with a decent profit to be made. Plus the gougers make the honest businessmen look real bad.