Price Gouging.... should it be illegal/ Why or why not?

[Prometheus]

This guy makes an excellent case for why there should not be laws against price gouging and why supply and demand works, even in disaster areas.

http://youtu.be/h9QEkw6_O6w

After watching this short video, what say you?

Do you believe government knows better than the free markets?

Or

Do you believe that Freedom and Liberty should always prevail?

 

[Pinchaser]

There is no such thing as price gouging. It's a term created by poor people who want to whine that they can't afford things at the prevailing market price.

 

[churchmouse]

Puts this issue in a different light....Yes

 

[BogWalker]

I think we should discuss essential and non-essential items separately in such cases. Non-essential any price is fair to ask. Essentials? Hmm still thinking on that one.

 

[Double T]

**** no. Because 'Merica.

 

[moosebag]

Puts this issue in a different light....Yes

NO! Price gouging is GREED, and greed is not only wrong, it's one of the Seven Deadly Sins.

 

[firehawk1]

There is no such thing as price gouging.

I disagree, If I remember correctly I don't think both World Trade Center Towers had collapsed and a gas station on the northside jacked prices up to $5.00/gallon. Just a short time before he/she was content selling for X amount and tried to cash in after the fact. THAT IMO is price gouging.

Jacking up gas prices BEFORE a holiday and BEFORE demand actually goes up, is IMO price gouging. IF demand goes up and creates a shortage THEN price hikes are justified I suppose, NOT before the fact.

Of course with the world literally swimming in crude oil, gasoline at the current price is price gouging.

Now should government become involved, no. Government fining someone is just legalized theft.

 

[Pinchaser]

I disagree, If I remember correctly I don't think both World Trade Center Towers had collapsed and a gas station on the northside jacked prices up to $5.00/gallon. Just a short time before he/she was content selling for X amount and tried to cash in after the fact. THAT IMO is price gouging.

Incorrect. What you have described is Capitalism at its finest. The franchise owner of the gas station should be allowed to do EXACTLY as they did. You also have the choice of buying gas elsewhere. If EVERY station is selling at $5/gal, then that is now the prevailing price and you as a consumer have to decide if it's worth missing out on alcohol, cigarettes, tattoos, etc., to buy gasoline instead.

This mythical thing you call gouging cannot occur unless and until the consumer PAYS the inflated (in their opinion) price. At the moment that happens, the buyer and seller came to an agreement and conducted business. There can be no gouging when you pay the price. So, as I wrote earlier, there truly is no such thing as price gouging. The moment you agree to it, the notion of "gouging" becomes non-sensical.

Capitalism at its finest. It's what made our country the greatest civilization the world has yet known. I suggest you be happy it works that way.

 

[bhowell34]

I still don't agree with price gouging. In that situation if the poor people only had $800 like it said then they still wouldn't get the generator only the rich families would. So the wife would be on facebook the kids playing video games and the poor family still wouldn't have medicine. I agree it's just greed. It shouldn't be legislated out but I honestly don't have an answer how to stop it

 

[churchmouse]

NO! Price gouging is GREED, and greed is not only wrong, it's one of the Seven Deadly Sins.

Well, I am certainly and most properly put back in my place...........

 

[Pinchaser]

Some of you really need to educate yourselves regarding the blessings of Capitalism and why/how it works. For ANY free market, capitalistic economy to truly be optmized, there MUST be winners and losers. Please read that again....there MUST be losers if our way of life is to truly be allowed to optimize itself to full potential.

Some of you have a hopelessly flawed misunderstanding of "greed." Capitalism thrives on taking advantage of the situation to the maximum extent the market will allow. We WANT such conduct. We thrive on such conduct. We CANNOT survive without it. If everyone wins, then everyone eventually loses. It's called Socialism. It doesn't work. There must be winners and there MUST be losers.

 

[42769vette]

I still don't agree with price gouging. In that situation if the poor people only had $800 like it said then they still wouldn't get the generator only the rich families would. So the wife would be on facebook the kids playing video games and the poor family still wouldn't have medicine. I agree it's just greed. It shouldn't be legislated out but I honestly don't have an answer how to stop it

If I offered you 100,000 dollars more for your home than its worth would you be moving? If I offer that much more than its worth that usually means I want it worse than you want to keep it and you would be moving.

Does that make me a idiot? Probably,

It means I'm willing to reward you for being at the right place at the right time, or buying when values were low. If I would not walk away a happy man I wouldn't have offered you the money so I don't see how it can be a bad thing when both parties walk away happy.

 

[LEaSH]

NO! Price gouging is GREED, and greed is not only wrong, it's one of the Seven Deadly Sins.

So Greed and Gluttony and Vanity should all be illegal? The title of the thread is "Should Price Gouging be Illegal"
What are these other so-called deadly sins? I can't recall.

 

[bhowell34]

I understand how a capitalistic society works but that doesn't mean we can just forget about charity. I know there must be losers but if you can just sit back and watch someone die bc they can't afford medication when you bought the last supply so your family can play on the internet. Your priories are flawed. I'm not arguing against a capitalistic society. I believe that is what has made us great. I'm just trying to say we have lost the desire to help our fellow man which I think is wrong. I'm not arguing on an economic sense but a moral one

 

[firehawk1]

Incorrect. What you have described is Capitalism at its finest. The franchise owner of the gas station should be allowed to do EXACTLY as they did. You also have the choice of buying gas elsewhere. If EVERY station is selling at $5/gal, then that is now the prevailing price and you as a consumer have to decide if it's worth missing out on alcohol, cigarettes, tattoos, etc., to buy gasoline instead.

This mythical thing you call gouging cannot occur unless and until the consumer PAYS the inflated (in their opinion) price. At the moment that happens, the buyer and seller came to an agreement and conducted business. There can be no gouging when you pay the price. So, as I wrote earlier, there truly is no such thing as price gouging. The moment you agree to it, the notion of "gouging" becomes non-sensical.

Capitalism at its finest. It's what made our country the greatest civilization the world has yet known. I suggest you be happy it works that way.

While the $5.00/gallon example was an extreme one, again I disagree with it being "capitalism at it's finest". It is nothing more than human greed at it's worst.

What really is the root cause I suppose is price FIXING.

Example, Bob's gas emporium bought gasoline at let's say $2.50/gallon. He decides to sell at $2.75 and make his profit. Joe's gas shack the next day buys his gasoline at $2.75/gallon and decides he needs to sell at $3.00/gallon to make a profit. Meanwhile Bob notices that Joe is selling at $3.00/gallon and decides to cash in and jack his price up to $3.00/gallon. Keep in mind Bob payed $2.50/gallon and was perfectly happy selling at $2.75/gallon UNTIL he see's Joe selling for $3.00/gallon.

In the gasoline example and in the real world they all jack their prices up no matter what they paid for the gasoline in the first place. How in the world can that be "capitalism at it's finest"? It's price fixing/gouging. You and I have no where else to go to buy the product they're selling. I suppose that enters into monopoly territory.... which is a form of price fixing/gouging. Am I the only one who wonders where all the 'gas wars" we used to see all the time went?

Again, just my

 

[firehawk1]

So Greed and Gluttony and Vanity should all be illegal? The title of the thread is "Should Price Gouging be Illegal"
What are these other so-called deadly sins? I can't recall.

Go rent the movie SEVEN, it will remind you what they are.

 

[hornadylnl]

Reading these threads on here is proof positive of why Mitt Romney is the best the Republican Party can do.

 

[Classic]

The only answer to all of this GREED is to get the government to decide what is a fair price for everything, put price controls in place and start prosecuting all of those sellers that are charging more than the "fair" price determined by the government.

 

[actaeon277]

I understand how a capitalistic society works but that doesn't mean we can just forget about charity. I know there must be losers but if you can just sit back and watch someone die bc they can't afford medication when you bought the last supply so your family can play on the internet. Your priories are flawed. I'm not arguing against a capitalistic society. I believe that is what has made us great. I'm just trying to say we have lost the desire to help our fellow man which I think is wrong. I'm not arguing on an economic sense but a moral one

Charity is VOLUNTARY.
I give to many different charitable organizations. I determine which charities use my money better, and which causes.

Taxes from a rabid IRS are NOT VOLUNTARY.

 

[Disposable Heart]

Some of you really need to educate yourselves regarding the blessings of Capitalism and why/how it works. For ANY free market, capitalistic economy to truly be optmized, there MUST be winners and losers. Please read that again....there MUST be losers if our way of life is to truly be allowed to optimize itself to full potential.

Some of you have a hopelessly flawed misunderstanding of "greed." Capitalism thrives on taking advantage of the situation to the maximum extent the market will allow. We WANT such conduct. We thrive on such conduct. We CANNOT survive without it. If everyone wins, then everyone eventually loses. It's called Socialism. It doesn't work. There must be winners and there MUST be losers.

This is potentially the most intelligent post I have seen in terms of explaining this situation.

For something to be "gouging" it must be in demand, such high demand that it is essential (whether this is true or not, it's the sharp increase in demand, the thought of essentiality in the mind of the consumer that makes it "essential"). Ammunition, in my mind, is NOT essential, unless aliens have showed up in orbit and have announced plans to destroy every human out there, but shown their weakness against lead or copper.

Watch and comprehend the video. Price controls so that everyone gets their "fair share" and not be gouged would create a shortage of supply and potentially (with actually necessities), a complete lack of product in the marketable area.

As for the example of the guy with $5 a gal gas, we had that in Dayton as well. But then again, there were other places still selling it for the $2 a gal regular price, despite the increase that others were displaying. Not gouging as I could go to another store, and if there was an actual shortage of fuel, then the price would dictate the supply levels.

I am not going to revert and call people Socialists, but their palaver about gouging is awfully reminiscent of a socialists' views. If not gouging laws, then how about controls on resources (let's keep oil in the US, darn the companies who sell it to the highest bidder, to hell with capitalism, the system that made this country great and what dad fought for in the "war"), or price controls (hyperinflation, what's that, is that what I get when I pump 4 PSI over in my tires to get 30 MPG in me Taurus)? I don't know what's worse, deregulation of banks or complete regulation in favor of damaging a self regulating system? This is slippery slope time, ladies and gents, and I will not have a part in it.