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I thought it was pretty obvious. Instead of letting price determine who is able to get gas (at which point the price would have shot up exponentially), we used time-cost to allocate this precious good. Everybody has the same time to expend (waiting 2 hours to get gas), as opposed to fat cats being able to consume all the gas they want while the rest of us are shut out, regardless of need.
I suppose some folks just don't grasp this elementary concept, no skin off my back though...lol.
The only thing shown in that video was people waiting in line to get gas.
Price ALWAYS determines who is able to get anything.
Sharply increased prices in the wake of something like a hurricane have the exact opposite effect. The increased price assures availability.
Since everybody is wanting to define "price gouging" - here's one for ya. It's when prices rise suddenly and to a great degree due to external, uncontrolled factors, such as hurricanes or other natural diasters. The "market" is unable to function normally at times like these, so this is why we have laws that state that there can be no raising of prices due to such a shortage.
Go out on the street and ask 100 people if they think this true and is a good policy to have. If 10 out of 100 disagree, I'd be very surprised.
The subset of people who post on the Economic Forum of C-D are not representative of the general population. Thank ye gods...lol.
Note: Here's the wiki link to the term price gouging, it's pretty informative and gives both sides of the arguement. Nice to know it's illegal in 34 states, too. Price gouging - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Actually, the market functions just fine in the wake of a hurricane or other natural disaster.
In an actual hurricane zone, where gas was selling $3.50 pre-hurricane, how much gas is available post-hurricane for $3.50? The answer is very little, and for only a short period of time. Stations that sell at pre-hurrcane prices will quickly sell out, and no gas will be available. This happens EVERY time there is a hurricane in a state that has enacted anti price gouging statutes. Things like gas, bottled water, generators, and building materials are unavailable BECAUSE of the low prices.
In the linked video, gas was selling at $3.97, which was higher than the pre hurricane price. If there weren't any laws against price gouging, why weren't the other price gouging gas stations selling their gas for $20/gallon? This is a serious question, and the answer is important for a discussion on price gouging.
Wikipedia has an article on unicorns, too. Doesn't mean they are real.
Nothing I said was remotely nonsensical. I guess it's just because I don't jump on the faith-based Austrian bandwagon (which assumes that everything happens in a perfectly controlled vacuum apart from human behavior and irrationality and functional coercion).
No Austrian thinks that. I like the way you make up things about other people and use your assumptions to dismiss them. It's sooooooooo hard to see thru that. lol. And you seem to put all your faith in government to run the economy and things will somehow get better. Just raise the minimum wage. It's never helped before but it will this time. If the government passes a law the laws of economics are repealed. LMFAO.
Of course slaves got paid. To keep them alive they were paid in housing, food, water, clothing, etc... A wage slave is being paid in the same way, as their pay must be instantly converted to those things (food, housing, etc...). If there are no savings left over afterward for the wage slave, then there is no difference.
LMAO. You actually appear to have no understanding of economics, psychology, or scarcity. Saying a paying job is the same as slavery.
More importantly, we don't have full employment, .
I was in Homestead in August 93' when Hurricane Andrew hit. Yes, there is price gouging. To the point that we ended up eating a few dogs.
So prices were so high that people could not afford to buy the product? Wow. I thought business was trying to make money. It's difficult to make money when you price something so high it can't be sold.
This proves price gouging doesn't work. It simply does not exist.
An example of price gouging that backfired... many people who purchase ammo and firearms will no longer buy from "Lucky Gunner" because they took advantage of the ammo shortage by price gouging.. meaning they still got all their ammo for the same price the ammo makers sell it for, but marked it up in many cases by 200% or more during the peak of the shortage in 2013 simply because they could get away with it.
This was not a popular move.
I don't know if this would count as price gouging, but AT&T decided to add a 61 cent per month 'administrative fee' to everyone's bill. Kind of like hotels charging 'resort fees' I find this practice seedy and avoid doing business with companies that don't disclose 'hidden fees' ... but it's hard to do business with a content provider (TV, phone, or the like) that does not do this, almost all of them do.
Actually, the market functions just fine in the wake of a hurricane or other natural disaster.
In an actual hurricane zone, where gas was selling $3.50 pre-hurricane, how much gas is available post-hurricane for $3.50? The answer is very little, and for only a short period of time. Stations that sell at pre-hurrcane prices will quickly sell out, and no gas will be available. This happens EVERY time there is a hurricane in a state that has enacted anti price gouging statutes. Things like gas, bottled water, generators, and building materials are unavailable BECAUSE of the low prices.
In the linked video, gas was selling at $3.97, which was higher than the pre hurricane price. If there weren't any laws against price gouging, why weren't the other price gouging gas stations selling their gas for $20/gallon? This is a serious question, and the answer is important for a discussion on price gouging.
Wikipedia has an article on unicorns, too. Doesn't mean they are real.
That's incorrect, as prices actually were coming down off the price spike earlier that summer ($147 a barrel oil). The hurricane that caused the shortage was Ike, which stopped the flow of gas through the pipelines through the SE, hence the shortage. The prices were frozen when Perdue declared a State of Emergency - after the shortage ended, prices resumed their decline due to the economic crash we had that fall. In North Carolina, there were some reports that some gas stations were selling gas for $8 a gallon, somehow, I don't think they survived due to public backlash...lol.
I have no problem with government controlling what businesses sell and for what prices, if it benefits the public good, just like health and safety laws we have, etc. It's the price we pay for living in a civilized society. In Canada, for instance, they control how much prescription drugs cost - if they charge more than they're allowed, well, no more patent protection for them...lol. We here need to do the same for our meds, that's for sure, as that's price gouging in the extreme.
Until 1992, they used to regulate how much cable cost, imagine if it'd never been de-regulated - cable would still be $30 a month instead of the $120 they charge now. By 2020, it's expected cable will average $200 a month. But since I don't need cable to live, I've cut the cord, and so will many others. But when it comes to stuff we need to live, like food, gas and meds, we sometimes need the heavy hand of government to keep the profiteers in line.
Sorry if this rubs people the wrong way, but it's what I've always believed, and no preaching of "economic theory" will ever convince me to change my mind.
A business must do X number of dollars coming in each week to pay their bills that do not stop in times such as a hurricane. If the hurricane cuts off their ability to get more of a certain product, they raise their prices, to bring in the same amount of money as before the hurricane. Their supply is limited. They can either raise their price to keep their cash flow up, or they can possibly lose their entire business due to lack of sufficient cash flow. After the hurricane, their lease payment does not stop, their loan payments do not stop, their set property and business taxes do not stop, their minimum utility bills do not stop, etc. They also realize that it will be days before they can get new supplies. They have to make up for when they are out of supplies, and bills just keep coming in. It is a matter of survival. Either raise their prices to the point they can exist until they can get back to halfway normal conditions, or lose their businesses and livelihood.
They have the choice of raising prices drastically in some cases, and try to keep the cash flow up, or lose their businesses due to lack of sufficient income to pay their bills.
It is not they are looking to price gouge or overcharge the customers, they are trying to survive themselves.
You cut off the rest of the quote which explained why that was relevant. It was a precondition for the rest of the explanation and not a standalone statement meant to contradict things by itself.
As to the wage slavery thing, again, I explained how pay is pay. If you cannot save enough to choose a different job or quit the job you have, then you are in the same situation as a slave, with the exception being that a wage slave has the ability to starve or sink into extreme poverty (with all of its concomitant health and mental health issues). On the opposite side, the American antebellum chattel slave might be whipped or killed. Surely the chattel slave has the worse end of the bargain compared to an impoverished person in the first world, but some chattel slaves and indentured servants throughout history have been treated better than American slaves. Others worse. It is a continuum but in kind not principle.
Wage slavery is a type of slavery unless one has functional economic choices. If the choice is merely who one's master will be (since, to survive, one must have a master if one has no capital saved), I would regard that as no choice at all. It's like the story of the condemned man who was presented with many options for how he was to be tortured and murdered, each described in the most excruciating detail. Upon hearing the presentation of each method, he turned to his eager captors and said, "They are all very bad, indeed."
I clicked I studied economics and believe it exists mainly due to the fact I have taken micro and macroeconomics and it does especially with monopolistic tactics and even cartels.
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And you seem to put all your faith in government to run the economy and things will somehow get better. Just raise the minimum wage. It's never helped before but it will this time. If the government passes a law the laws of economics are repealed. LMFAO.
