Posted on 09/02/2005 10:05:18 PM PDT by NonZeroSum
OK, so they decide to sleep the kids in one double bed and themselves in another in the same room. You're obviously trying to find nits to pick because your argument just fell apart.
Actually, "Economics 101" says a lot about this
And proceeds NOT to.
" Good tag line!"
Absolutely. You have reduced almost my entire philosophy down into one sentence.
Uh, ok, I'll defer to your genius.
Please, all of us here want to know, what is your exact plan to stop price gouging?
Please be detailed.
Tell us:
1: Exactly how you would determine someone is "gouging"
2. What you would do to stop these evil capitalists from selling a product at a "gouging" price.
I want specifics. You have oodles of credibility, so fire away.
We're all waiting.
Oh, and as a kicker, please explain how your super-special anti-gouging laws will work to prevent gas lines and shortages like they've always caused before.
I guess it's like the (other) liberals say - the soviet union only failed because the right people weren't in charge. The priciples of communism were obviously sound, we just need a wise leader to make it all happen.
Maybe you're that person.
Tell us how it would all work, great leader.
We're waiting.
Free markets always work.
If gas runs out, which it never will, it would be a great day to be a manufacturer of electric scooters or bicycles.
The anti-gouging law in Florida works. It discourages the worst of human behavior while still allowing enough room for that market to work. As for my generator example, perhaps you don't understand that the local market was being cornered and that an artificial shortage was being created. People don't need that when a major hurricane hits.
China still does it more or less. The reason we buy from China is that they're still cheaper than buying elsewhere or domestic -- in fact, sometimes the reason they're still much cheaper is because their gummint decreed it should be so.
There have been some horribly irrational posts about. Appalling, really, when you think the vast majority of FReepers are smarter than all that.
Never required.
bump
" The anti-gouging law in Florida works."
That depends on how you define "work".
If you mean that people can't make profits in proportion to the given demand, you're correct.
If you mean that supply is naturally increased to meet the rise in demand (in other words, people get the food, water, generators, gas, etc... they claim to "need"), you are exactly wrong.
"He really seems to think that some Statute restricts human behavior."
L
You could ask the govt to take a little less tax out of the gas to keep it within reason.They only piss away that tax money for the most part..
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."
"As for my generator example, perhaps you don't understand that the local market was being cornered and that an artificial shortage was being created. People don't need that when a major hurricane hits."
But they do need generators.
And frankly, all the more reason to NOT have anti-gouging laws. If some local guy is marking up his generators, the absence of an anti-gouging law makes it MORE likely that someone from out of state, maybe even several states away, will bring his truckload of generators down and undercut the overcharging local guy.
Again, if left to its own devices, and with as little government interference as possible, the free market is more efficient, more effective, and actually prevents gouging by giving an economic incentive for more competition.
Anti-gouging laws are nothing but populist measures to buy votes. They do little to help consumers and often hurt them more.
Someone has yet to show how arbitraging locally increases the total number that the people get. Also, now the huckster sells to some corner of town instead of everybody knowing where they can at least possibly get one (you try the home and hardware stores, rather than cruising around wasting gas looking for a huckster).
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