You say the store owner is “artificially jacking up prices”.
What makes it artificial? The fact that the store owner has the commodity, and no one else does? That’s supply and demand.
Your refusal to think is the reason why you cannot see the parallel. I’m sorry you have chosen to be closed-minded.
You believe, clearly, that the government should be setting the price for commodities in “emergency” situations. A man’s labor is a commodity. Special skills make the man more valuable to an employer who needs those skills.
The same as the “emergency” makes the commodity owned by the store keeper more valuable.
But not in your world, where government sets the price.
Oh - and “imposing wage caps across the board” is a straw man fallacy. You see, I simply stated that price controls is analogous to wage controls - but I spoke not a whit about universality. By injecting universality, you have attempted to argue against a position I have not espoused.
It’s also funny that you had to inject the “romneybot” ad hominem fallacy, although I have not said a single thing about any politician but Huckabee. I have no affinity for Romney, just the same as I have none for Huckabee.
I’m not just talking about you. There are plenty of Romney guys on this thread. But I apologize for inferring that you were one.
As to the substance, I’ll grant you that you didn’t say universal wage control.
That said, I don’t think Adam Smith was as libertarian as the philosophy that you are putting forward. Gov. Jeb Bush set strict anti-gouging policies and not one conservative legislator ever objected. The government does have a regulatory place.
I see a clear difference between gouging and honest earnings of the fruits of ones labors. The store owner stocking up for clients only gives that owner the right to keep whatever he/she wants. If he engages in free commerce, he should be fined if he uses his position and peoples’ trust to jack up prices. It’s not stealing but it is cheating and unfair game.
But if I were to agree with you, and now that you’ve explained it I do at least respect your point of view, I still wouldn’t go after Huckabee alone on this - as every governor in the US has the same policy. I’d say there’s a fiscal problem and advocate for your favored economic policy.
Just as I find it objectionable for everyone to pile on Huckabee for doing what most governors would have done (and what the trial judge would have done), I also find the blame assigned to Huckabee over price gouging measures to be unwarranted if every other governor gets a pass for doing the exact same thing.
Again, sorry for the harsh tone that I should have reserved for TigerEyes, his tagteam pal and a few others. But I still strongly disagree with your point of view, although I am interested in hearing your refutation.