5 Comments

1. Libertarian Jason  •  Jun 13, 2006 @12:14 PM
   

   More anti-capitalism.

   Then again, what do you expect from conservative Republicans?

2. Adam  •  Jun 13, 2006 @12:17 PM
   

   I am in favor of this law.

   I really think you missed the mark on this one James. Sorry but there have been to many instances in which gas and other products, that people might have needed, have been priced anywhere from 100%-600% or 700% mark up if not more.

   I am all for business being successful and business making a profit but making money off of people in unlucky situations is just wrong.

   You justify your answer in a way that a business might “evaluate” the situation and change their prices accordingly. I think you give most business more credit than they deserve.

   After all we are all ruled by greed here in America right?

3. James  •  Jun 13, 2006 @1:05 PM
   

   Please explain to me Adam how the government establishing a set price on a commodity is helpful for our economy?

   It’s simple economics… these businesses are NOT making money off of people in an unlucky situation.

   There are a multitude of examples that show how anti-pricegouging laws do more harm than good.

   #1. If a gas station is required by the state to sell its gas for $3.00 a gallon and not a penny more, then when a disaster approaches and the masses are in need of large quantities of fuel, there is NO way for that business to protect its reserve. If you’re fleeing an area and fuel is at a bargain, you’re more likely to take more than you need, thus depleting the supply due to false demand.

   #2. A local Hotel (lets say Motel 6) regularly rents out rooms for $75 a night… a disaster hits the area and now because of anti-price gouging laws, the state has declared that the price per room must not rise above $75 a night for a hotel room. A family arrives and because their party is quite large and they have the money, they rent out the last 3 rooms in the hotel. The next family to arrive in desperate need of shelter has to put themselves back into harms way because supply has been depleted. Had the hotel owner been able to adjust his prices to curb such problems, the second family would have been able to seek shelter.

   #3. Due to a disaster, electricity is down and in order to run vital equipment to save lives etc., generators are needed. Lowe’s due to anti-price gouging laws has been forced to cap the price on their limited supply of generators. Due to the low cost of these generators in a time of crisis… supply is quickly depleted leaving many without power.

   If left to it’s own devices, supply and demand works, and it works VERY well… sure there are greedy people out there, and you can’t stop them all, but for what it’s worth stopping everyone to stop the few does WAY more damage than it’s worth.

4. chris  •  Jun 14, 2006 @12:12 PM
   

   you also must think about it another way, what about the fact that a company is not allowed to raise prices even if they are doing so to conpensate for the extra cost of shipping items in from a location that they would not normally use. for example, if home drpot normally gets its generators from Tampa, and that warehouse is knocked out of commission, they have to go to another warehouse.. and lets say it costs them $20 more to ship from the secondary warehouse… but law prevents them from passing the extra cost on to the consumer… so instead of getting the much needed items, they decide that its not a good idea because they will loose money.

5. James  •  Jun 14, 2006 @12:25 PM
   

   That and a lot of the time, they may not have to raise the prices based on current inventory, but simply to compensate for complete downtime from that store being either affected by the storm or its victims.

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