Comments on: Worse than a Murderer?

By: Lively Debate

Lively Debate — Mon, 28 Nov 2005 23:59:50 +0000

Capitalist Digest

The Carnival of the Capitalists is up. Here is some good reading selected from this week’s choices:

Coytote Blog follows up on the Unfairness of price gouging laws.

Mises Econmics Blog illustrates how markets work in the wake of Katrina. No reg…

By: Chester White

Chester White — Mon, 28 Nov 2005 22:14:43 +0000

Damn those price-gouging laborers who are getting $20-25 an hour along the Gulf Coast. Before Katrina they were getting paid $10; now look at the situation! Taking advantage of a disaster to raise their price. The nerve!

I demand an investigation by the District Attorney into this heinous behavior! NOW!

By: Trainwreck

Trainwreck — Tue, 22 Nov 2005 16:44:09 +0000

Well, if gouging is 25% above the last 30 days average, then the 30 day average must have been $2.79 or less for him to get cited. If the state told him that the max price was $3.09, then they apparently determined that the 30-day average was $2.47. Having worked in a government job before, I can almost guarantee two things: The 30-day average can be calculated in multiple ways (lies, damn lies, and statistics….), and the government can’t do anything right in 18 hours or less

By: Max Lybbert

Max Lybbert — Tue, 22 Nov 2005 01:16:18 +0000

Lisa, I agree with you. OTOH, I understand most anti-gouging laws are set based on what the product was selling for last week, not what it cost the store this week.

By: Lisa Renee

Lisa Renee — Tue, 22 Nov 2005 00:16:54 +0000

If he truly bought the gas for $3.29 a gallon I don’t see how or why they should have arrested him. Twenty cents a gallon profit should not be considered gouging. I also wonder why some of these newspapers don’t actually do research anymore when reporting stories. Had they done so they would have discovered the only front page news should have been the distributer that charged him $3.29 a gallon.