[dayglored]

> The outer headline in The Post called him a great capitalist. I disagree.

Well, he was a fool and an asshole, but his basic free-market approach strikes me as okay in this respect:

• An item for sale is worth what someone will pay for it, no more, no less. Customer pays him $30 for a hotdog, that hotdog was worth $30.

• The customer can always refuse the deal, not accept the hotdog, and walk away.

The cart owner, however, should keep better track of what his employees are doing under his banner.

[nickcarraway]

Have you ever read Adam Smith?

[Steve_Seattle]

"An item for sale is worth what someone will pay for it, no more, no less. Customer pays him $30 for a hotdog, that hotdog was worth $30."

Exactly. A high-profile fashion designer can get $10,000 for a dress that could be made for $400, if he can find an idiot willing to pay that price. And in places like Hollywood, there are many such idiots who can afford that price and will pay it.

[kearnyirish2]

Years ago I bought a sausage & pepper sandwich for $8 at a flea market (where empanadas are 2/$3 and hot dogs 3/$5); last time I ordered something without knowing the price beforehand. Lesson learned; now I know why there was no line at that stand...

NYC is the same place where they had to set a flat fee from Manhattan to Kennedy Airport because so many tourists were getting raped (financially) by cabbies (again, targeting foreigners).

[TexasGator]

"•An item for sale is worth what someone will pay for it, no more, no less." An item for sale is worth what an informed someone will pay for it, no more, no less. If you rip someone off who is intimidated in the environment and may be confused with currency translation, it is theft.

[UnwashedPeasant]

He is targeting foreign tourists who do not understand the value of US money.

The tourists think that they are paying the market price.

He is a con man tricking them into paying a price higher than the market price.

It is like you going to the Eiffel Tower and paying a street vendor 30 Farthings for a bubble & squeak. Since you can see him selling to local customers, you reasonably assume the price is fair.