Posted on 10/24/2018 11:22:22 AM PDT by Kaslin
—there is no such thing as “price gouging”-—it’s called “the market”—
It’s perfectly fine to gouge.
Just make sure your next move will be out of state.
I think if they want to do something like this it would be better to tie it to the profit margin comparison between the replacement price the item was bought at prior and after. Otherwise they may find they cannot replenish stocks from out of state.
Only basing it on the price in the month prior doesn’t take into account the increased demand on the market as a whole which WILL raise prices even without attempts to gouge.
Yeah, supply and demand curves determine price and the most efficient distribution of resources. Of course I might become pee'od if it adversely effected the safety of my family.
Regarding The Market’s virtues -
Just because you can (immorally gouge profit during disaster crisis), doesn’t mean you should (abide by Golden Rule).
Agreed?
All he could do was grin.
Maybe you’ve never been in a hurricane.
I’ve never had much use for Pam Bondi down here since “stand your ground” with Travon Martin, but she’s going after price gougers like a growling dog.
You can’t take the emotional element out of this. Not one person in twenty, perhaps, can view the issue with cold rationality, the way Williams can.
Price gouging won’t help allocate resources: people view it as a one-time or in any case short-term purchase decision, and therefore less material than the immediate emergency need. A better way to allocate resources in public emergencies without price gouging would be rationing. Everybody shares the pain while the poorest are not shut out and no one is unjustly enriched.
It would more affect the safety of your family if you couldn't get a commodity you desperately needed because the commodity wasn't available at any price.
The people in one location buy up all the plywood and the stores will get none in until after the storm.
A man 400 miles away sees an opportunity, rents a flat bed truck with all the plywood it can carry and drives to the area. He starts to sell of the back of the truck and includes cost of truck rental, plywood, fuel and hotel room for last night with a 10% profit.
Should he be arrested for price gouging because his price is 40% above the prior price?
Exactly!
Charging 10 to 25% more simply makes it possible for the proprietor to fix their property which was likely damaged along with everyone else’s.
There’s always a Leftist busy-body out there trying to fix things that aren’t broken.
If they had addressed 500% mark-ups, I would have been willing to listen.
Actually, that is exactly the opposite of what Mr. Williams is arguing. The price is how you control allocation. If you raise the price enough, only folks who actually need it will buy. It is more immoral to artificially maintain current prices and thus make sure that it is allocated as inefficiently as possible.
Lets take gasoline for instance.
If a proprietor raised his prices 100%, that forces folks to think in terms of only buying what they really need.
If he charges the normal price, people will come in and fill their two or three cars and leave gas sitting in the tanks. When everyone does this, it can cause a shortage if replacement gas isn’t readily available.
Raising prices can have a reasoned decent outcome. People get to come to their own conclusion about how much they buy, but it likely won’t be as much. There will be gas for more people.
Yes, I agree and posted an example in the post after yours.
-just like a sister and a stepson who live in Florida already do---
so instead of “gouging”, they won’t sell at all.
And when the invisible hand of the market donates its storm profits to storm relief I will believe in that hand’s benevolence.
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