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I am saying there is a difference between higher prices but double or triple the price, most people would draw the line. Say gas is $3.30 (like my example from earlier) and you have hurricane or storm hit the area hard. If gas is within $3.60-5.00, most people are willing to pay but say $6.00 is getting to a point where the public complains and cries price gouging.
I understand your example.
Are there no legitimate market conditions that can cause the price to double or triple? And if there are, is it somehow improper if those prices are actually charged?
Silly statements like that should make it pretty clear why I am done with you.
Famous last words. I tend to disbelieve such blatant bravado.
Quote:
Originally Posted by mkpunk
I am saying there is a difference between higher prices but double or triple the price, most people would draw the line. Say gas is $3.30 (like my example from earlier) and you have hurricane or storm hit the area hard. If gas is within $3.60-5.00, most people are willing to pay but say $6.00 is getting to a point where the public complains and cries price gouging.
The reality is that society's well-established standard is that market pricing can apply, as long as it is the pricing in effect prior to the emergency, for the duration of the emergency.
No one has presented a reasonable foundation for questioning that well-established standard.
hotels price gouge... during a snowstorm on the colorado rockies you can bet they will charge full rack rate when they know it will sell out.... who wouldn't?
People criticize renters in western North Dakota for price gouging.. they're just supposed to keep renting out their homes for $700 a month when they could get $2500 per month due to the housing shortage... we'd all charge $2500 per month if we were in that situation. Call it what you want, it's smart business. Some elderly people might get displaced... but anyone foolish enough to rent a home their entire life to old age... well...
It could exist. All i know is gas is $3.70 a couple blocks away, $3.52 further down, $3.55 next to that place, and $3.65 on the other side of town. We've even had some gas prices as much as a dollar difference in stations right next door to each other.
Are there no legitimate market conditions that can cause the price to double or triple? And if there are, is it somehow improper if those prices are actually charged?
They do become double and triple but it isn't an overnight change like a disaster would make them.
Quote:
Originally Posted by stockwiz
hotels price gouge... during a snowstorm on the colorado rockies you can bet they will charge full rack rate when they know it will sell out.... who wouldn't?
People criticize renters in western North Dakota for price gouging.. they're just supposed to keep renting out their homes for $700 a month when they could get $2500 per month due to the housing shortage... we'd all charge $2500 per month if we were in that situation. Call it what you want, it's smart business. Some elderly people might get displaced... but anyone foolish enough to rent a home their entire life to old age... well...
Hotels are a weird example because they raise prices during the seasons. A ski resort for instance would have higher rates in winter due to demand. During college family weekends, move in weekends, homecoming and move-out and graduation, rates increase too because of demand. Also you typically pay more for walk-up check-ins anyway because of limited vacancies.
The Dakotas only have so many houses, apartment, trailer spots compared to the size of the boom they are facing and are not really looking to add.
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
From Wikipedia: "Price gouging is a pejorative term referring to a situation in which a seller prices goods or commodities at a level much higher than is considered reasonable or fair."
Just who is it who's opinion is being considered? Is the definition of Price Gouging refer to selling goods or commodities at a level much higher than is considered fair by people with the first name of George? People under 5'8" tall? People with large brassiere cups? Who?
And just what is "fair"? The last time I checked a "fair" is a place farmers bring their prize-winning tomatoes and cows.
Clearly, there is no such thing as "price gouging" because it CANNOT be defined.
I thought it was pretty obvious. ... fat cats being able to consume all the gas they want while the rest of us are shut out, regardless of need...
So your REAL gripe is that some people with different talents, skills & choices make more money than you do, rather than that a retailer raises the price to the market-clearing price.
Got it. You're just jealous. Many small-minded people are jealous of others.
So your REAL gripe is that some people with different talents, skills & choices make more money than you do, rather than that a retailer raises the price to the market-clearing price.
Got it. You're just jealous. Many small-minded people are jealous of others.
I'm not jealous, I'm just asserting what's fair and what's not. Try telling this to Sonny Perdue, a very Republican governor that was in office at the time. He's the one that put the State of Emergeny into effect, which kept the prices locked down for the duration of the crisis. And it wasn't political, either, as he wasn't able to run again. Oh yeah, and about ten million other people in Georgia too.
I've got a lot of people on my side, I dunno about you, but I'm sensing that you're part of a very small minority.
(Notice to casual readers - many of the posters on this forum are NOT representative of the general population.)
Are there no legitimate market conditions that can cause the price to double or triple? And if there are, is it somehow improper if those prices are actually charged?
You appear to be a radical Libertarian. It's one thing to say "price gouging is justified" yet you appear to be pretty lucid and it's frankly disingenuous to act as if you don't grasp the concept of price gouging in the first place.
Of course there are market conditions that can cause a price to double or triple. The objection is when you try to include "natural or man-made disasters" as a market condition.
You appear to be a radical Libertarian. It's one thing to say "price gouging is justified" yet you appear to be pretty lucid and it's frankly disingenuous to act as if you don't grasp the concept of price gouging in the first place.
Of course there are market conditions that can cause a price to double or triple. The objection is when you try to include "natural or man-made disasters" as a market condition.
I have a pretty good idea of what is generally considered price gouging. However, if you look at the relative lack of concrete definitions offered in this thread, it would be hard to say that it is clear just what price gouging is.
I and someone else will look at the exact same situation (gas prices increasing after a hurricane, for example) and I describe it as prices adjusting to meet changing market conditions, while they describe it as "price gouging." My description is exactly correct. It describes perfectly and completely what is happening. The contrary arguments generally fall along the lines of, "Well society understands what it is, and governments have made it illegal. Why can't you just accept it?" Or, "Yes, we understand that prices have increased due to market conditions, but they have increased too much, and it isn't fair."
In your last sentence, are you saying that a natural disaster ISN'T a market condition, and that prices either shouldn't or can't increase as a result?
As to the Libertarian label, it's not exactly correct. On financial/economic issues, yes. On some foreign policy issues, no. I'm not a social values conservative and am pretty much "live and let live" with regards to many social issues. There isn't really one party or political philosophy that would accurately describe me, AFAIK.
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