You say Price Gouging, I say goods going to those who value them most
Tuesday, 6 September 2005 by Jacob TomawJerry Taylor of the Cato Institute has this defense of the price fluctuation in the gasoline market. Governments tend to try to stop what they consider gouging by controlling prices. Mr. Taylor points out
[P]rice controls lengthen the shortages. Allowing prices to rise to whatever their natural level might be sets off an economic chain reaction that remedies the shortage quicker than any conceivable government plan to do likewise. That?s because $3 gasoline and moral exhortations from President Bush and Bill O?Reilly to conserve fuel will not produce the same degree of frugality that $6 gasoline would deliver. Likewise, pleas to the oil industry to ?help thy fellow man? will not yield up as much gasoline as the promise of great profit were suppliers to get new fuel to the market.
September 9th, 2005 at 14:00
I strongly disagree…