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Price controls don't work, they create shortages. Gouging actually serves a purpose in the marketplace by forcing folks to conserve who otherwise would not conserve. The market works, leave it alone.

But there is another side to that coin. When everything settles down one would hope that people would have memories and by that I mean they should vote with their walletts by remembering those charging usury prices and those simply charging what the market will bear. There is a difference.

When everything settles down one would hope that people would have memories and by that I mean they should vote with their walletts by remembering those charging usury prices and those simply charging what the market will bear. There is a difference.

You are spot on here. That is why the "big" retailers..., the ones who COULD really screw the public, are the first in line to provide relief and charity in situations like this. They aren't stupid, and they know that the public has a long memory and longer resentment. "Gouging" is usually done by "one stop Johnny" crowds. They won't be in business tomorrow doing this, but are simply seeking a short term profit. Even that crowd are not "CROOKS" but simply people who may, say, buy a truckload of generators at retail and seek to sell them at a profit because of the unusual demand. Hell, if Home Depot could supply them, do you not think they WOULD? These guys can't compete with Lowes over the long term, but there is a market niche. They fill it AND THUS REDUCE DEMAND BY FILLING THE MOST CRITICAL DEMAND (i.e., the highest prices bid). In the long run, these people actually REDUCE the price by easing the overall demand.

Will there be ruthless exploitation in that kind of situation? HELL yes. No one is arguing for the moral integrity of the people who supply the most desperate supply fringes of the market, any more than you argue for the moral integrity of finance companies that provide credit at 30% interest. The fact is, though, that these people are simply supplying a segment of the market, and allowing them to function is BETTER THAN TRYING TO REGULATE THE MARKET FROM OUTSIDE (i.e., gov't controls). The the market police itself on price and supply of legal goods, and let God police the motivations of those who sell. It is, contrary to those who wring their hands over the "exploiters," the most compassionate system in the long run.

But there is another side to that coin. When everything settles down one would hope that people would have memories...remembering those charging usury prices and those simply charging what the market will bear.

There will be repercussions in the local markets, particularly in the rural areas.

One local station that usually services 20-30 vehicles per day, on a good day, raised his prices three times during the day, based upon watching the news.

He went from $2.43 per gallon to $2.89, and will probably go to over $3.00 today, which would probably not have been noticed as much in a high-volume station, but everyone LOCAL knows that he raised the price on what was in the ground.

His is a convenience store in the truest sense of the word, as most persons that fuel up there do so only because the nearest station with better prices is located down off the mountain, at least 14 miles away, either direction.

I suspect he lost a few "convenience" customers as a result of that particularly evident gouge.