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Thread: Hurricane: Florida AG to Prosecute "Price Gougers"

  1. #1

    Hurricane: Florida AG to Prosecute "Price Gougers"


    Tho Bishop
    ...

    Today, with Hurricane Hermine expected to be the first hurricane to hit Florida in almost 11 years, Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi (the state’s own “Big Sis”) is encouraging Floridians to report “price gouging,” a term politicians use to smear a business that increases prices to reflect a dramatic increase in customer demand. As FloridaPolitics.com reports, Bondi has even set up a special hotline (1-866-NO-SCAM) for Floridians to out businesses that have prices they think are too high.

    Of course the idea that an increase in demand for a good or service will cause its price to increase on the market is one of the most basic economic concepts out there. If a high school student manages to take away anything from their mandated-economics class, it’s usually that. Unsurprisingly, many in government seem to have not retained this fairly simple concept. This is the only explanation as to why states around the country have passed measured aimed at combating basic economics.

    For example, the Florida law:

    [C]ompares the reported price of the commodity or service during the state of emergency to the average price charged over the 30-day period prior to the declared state of emergency. If there is a “gross disparity” between the prior price and the current charge, it is considered price gouging.
    While short-sighted politicians likely see anti-“price gouging” laws as a form of consumer protection, this form of price control ends up actually hurting consumers — as is the case whenever government intervenes in the marketplace.

    After all, consumer demand for something like a gallon of water usually changes dramatically when a hurricane threatens to make landfall and disrupt basic utilities. Forcing businesses to maintain prices similar to what they’ve sold water for over the past month means the price of the gallon water is lower than it would be without the market. So if water can’t be sold for more than a dollar, when the market would allow it to be sold for three, a customer could easily end up buying three times as much water as they otherwise would. While that may be an advantage for the buyer, it means less water on the shelves for other consumers.

    This also creates opportunities for a black market in hurricane supplies. A shrewd entrepreneur could easily buy up gallons of water at its government-mandated low price and then sell them out of the back of their truck for much higher. No matter if its water of heroin, markets, like life, find a way — whether it has government’s permission or not.

    Of course it’s usually harder to find black market sellers than it is traditional businesses. So government policy that forces traditional businesses to sell a product for cheaper than it otherwise would, leading to that product being sold in larger quantities than it otherwise would, and clearing out retail shelves quicker than it otherwise would — could lead to innocent families being forced to go without such essentials.

    Unnecessary hardship, all because Pam Bondi and other government officials don’t understand basic economics.
    https://mises.org/blog/hurricane-flo...-price-gougers
    Quote Originally Posted by Ron Paul View Post
    The intellectual battle for liberty can appear to be a lonely one at times. However, the numbers are not as important as the principles that we hold. Leonard Read always taught that "it's not a numbers game, but an ideological game." That's why it's important to continue to provide a principled philosophy as to what the role of government ought to be, despite the numbers that stare us in the face.
    Quote Originally Posted by Origanalist View Post
    This intellectually stimulating conversation is the reason I keep coming here.



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  3. #2
    Thank you, Government! For taking an already bad situation and making it worse and making sure it lasts a long, long time!!
    "And now that the legislators and do-gooders have so futilely inflicted so many systems upon society, may they finally end where they should have begun: May they reject all systems, and try liberty; for liberty is an acknowledgment of faith in God and His works." - Bastiat

    "It is difficult to free fools from the chains they revere." - Voltaire

  4. #3
    YEAH! Get those price-gouging pricks!

    They should be put to death. Every last one of them!

    I'M PISSED!
    freedomisobvious.blogspot.com

    There is only one correct way: freedom. All other solutions are non-solutions.

    It appears that artificial intelligence is at least slightly superior to natural stupidity.

    Our words make us the ghosts that we are.

    Convincing the world he didn't exist was the Devil's second greatest trick; the first was convincing us that God didn't exist.

  5. #4
    Gotta protect Boobus at all cost. Never mind that they should have been laying in water ahead of time or bought a generator before the power went out.

  6. #5
    Thank State !!! At least make them get a license/permit and remit some of the money to the state. If it where not for the all mighty state there would be no prices to gouge nor goods or services to be in demand. Ungrateful denigerated people should be greatful the State creATED the weather to start with.
    “[T]he enshrinement of constitutional rights necessarily takes certain policy choices off the table.” (Heller, 554 U.S., at ___, 128 S.Ct., at 2822.)

    How long before "going liberal" replaces "going postal"?

  7. #6
    I remember that echo from every storm since Andrew.
    Liberty is lost through complacency and a subservient mindset. When we accept or even welcome automobile checkpoints, random searches, mandatory identification cards, and paramilitary police in our streets, we have lost a vital part of our American heritage. America was born of protest, revolution, and mistrust of government. Subservient societies neither maintain nor deserve freedom for long.
    Ron Paul 2004

    Registered Ron Paul supporter # 2202
    It's all about Freedom

  8. #7
    there's no reason anybody should have the opportunity to price gouge, because we all know FL, like all east coast states, are prone to hurricanes, everybody knows that and should always be prepared, if you're caught off guard and didn't buy your supplies in advance, well tough luck.

  9. #8
    Quote Originally Posted by pcosmar View Post
    I remember that echo from every storm since Andrew.
    almost a quarter century ago, wow time flies.



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  11. #9
    Let the shortages begin!

  12. #10
    I would just hold an auction for merchandise that was in demand. Start with a minimum bid of current price and go from there.

    Annnnd here we a have a one gallon bottle of pure spring water, the finest you will ever taste annnd the bidding starts at a buck fifty, can I have a buck seventy five?, and we have a buck seventy five how about two bucks?, can I hear two bucks?, two bucks to the man in the rear...........................

  13. #11
    Quote Originally Posted by phill4paul View Post
    two bucks to the man in the rear...........................
    Sounds like something HB would say.
    "He's talkin' to his gut like it's a person!!" -me
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    "Each of us must choose which course of action we should take: education, conventional political action, or even peaceful civil disobedience to bring about necessary changes. But let it not be said that we did nothing." - Ron Paul

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  14. #12
    Quote Originally Posted by dannno View Post
    Sounds like something HB would say.
    Which begs the question, who's the man in the rear?
    Quote Originally Posted by Ron Paul View Post
    The intellectual battle for liberty can appear to be a lonely one at times. However, the numbers are not as important as the principles that we hold. Leonard Read always taught that "it's not a numbers game, but an ideological game." That's why it's important to continue to provide a principled philosophy as to what the role of government ought to be, despite the numbers that stare us in the face.
    Quote Originally Posted by Origanalist View Post
    This intellectually stimulating conversation is the reason I keep coming here.

  15. #13
    Quote Originally Posted by phill4paul View Post
    I would just hold an auction for merchandise that was in demand. Start with a minimum bid of current price and go from there.

    Annnnd here we a have a one gallon bottle of pure spring water, the finest you will ever taste annnd the bidding starts at a buck fifty, can I have a buck seventy five?, and we have a buck seventy five how about two bucks?, can I hear two bucks?, two bucks to the man in the rear...........................
    that's too logical. the gubmint wont allow that.

  16. #14
    Quote Originally Posted by PRB View Post
    that's too logical. the gubmint wont allow that.
    As long as you hold an auctioneers license you are good to go.

  17. #15
    Quote Originally Posted by dannno View Post
    Sounds like something HB would say.
    Quote Originally Posted by Suzanimal View Post
    Which begs the question, who's the man in the rear?
    Counter-intuitively the one getting gouged.

  18. #16
    *contemplates calling in every county tax assessor for price gouging on property tax*
    Disclaimer: any post made after midnight and before 8AM is made before the coffee dip stick has come up to optomim level - expect some level of silliness,

    The problems we face today exist because the people who work for a living are out numbered by those who vote for a living !!!!!!!



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