Price Gouging - Fair and balanced, or unfair

[Lawrence of Arabia]

http://www.cnn.com/2004/LAW/08/17/charley.gouging.charges/index.html

im against this law - its the free market at use. the only way to make sure there is enough room for everybody who is willing to pay for it is to charge more, that way people whose homes were most destroyed will get rooms, and those with only slightly damaged homes will not.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Well part of the complaint is fraud. Lying to customers, even those who HAD reservations at lower prices in order to get them to pay more.

[Lawrence of Arabia]

yes, and thats a breach of contract for those who had reservations at lower prices, but its no price gouging - and of course lying is also fraud. but its not price gouging.

[Dis]

I'm not a 100% free market guy. But I do believe in capitalism (with regulations)

I'm against price gouging. But I would prefer the matter be settled by the public vs. the gouger in public courts. I don't like seeing the goverment involved in any other way. The goverment should be kept small dammit! Of course no one else agrees with me on this.

[Lawrence of Arabia]

i agree the govt must be kept small.

[mrmitchell]

Who cares about the consumers anyways?

[Lawrence of Arabia]

i do - unless they complain about dumb things.

[Kuciwalker]

I'm for laws preventing price gouging in declared emergencies like hurricanes and such.

[Lawrence of Arabia]

but thats the thing, its not price gouging - theres a high demand for rooms after said storm, and supply has decreased, so that means higher prices so that the people who really need the rooms can get them. are people here against the free market which has made america the worlds largest economy over the last 50 years?

[MichaeltheGreat]

Re: Price Gouging - Fair and balanced, or unfair

Originally posted by Lawrence of Arabia

http://www.cnn.com/2004/LAW/08/17/charley.gouging.charges/index.html

im against this law - its the free market at use. the only way to make sure there is enough room for everybody who is willing to pay for it is to charge more, that way people whose homes were most destroyed will get rooms, and those with only slightly damaged homes will not.

Aaah, so people's capacity to pay is based on the extent of their home damage? All this time, I thought it related to net income.

And you're right - this is the perfect demonstration of why the liberterarium has no place in the real world. ****ing people over when a hurricane hits.

[mrmitchell]

Lawrence, I have news for you

The world will not collapse into anarchy if hotel owners are prevented from charging poor displaced people double during emergencies

[MichaeltheGreat]

Originally posted by Lawrence of Arabia
are people here against the free market which has made america the worlds largest economy over the last 50 years?

You should catch up on your liberterrarium reading. According to the LP, the market isn't free. But yes, I agree we should keep the same regulated market system we have now.

[Kidlicious]

Re: Re: Price Gouging - Fair and balanced, or unfair

Originally posted by MichaeltheGreat
Aaah, so people's capacity to pay is based on the extent of their home damage? All this time, I thought it related to net income.

And you're right - this is the perfect demonstration of why the liberterarium has no place in the real world. ****ing people over when a hurricane hits.

Prices aren't fair in the free market. If you want fair you're advocating the wrong economic system.

[Kidlicious]

Originally posted by MichaeltheGreat


You should catch up on your liberterrarium reading. According to the LP, the market isn't free. But yes, I agree we should keep the same regulated market system we have now.

You're losing this one to LoA. Capitalism is dependent on price gouging. That's the driving force behind the allocation of resources.

[Agathon]

Capitalism is dependent on price gouging.

The man has a point there.