Chris Christie vows to stop “Price Gougers”

This is just another way of saying price controls.  The theory goes that if someone is hiking up prices that they are taking advantage of people.  In actual real life, not the strange world of politics, prices rise because of demand.  When prices increase, this sends a valuable signal to the rest of the market that more goods of that type are required.  So if water increases to three or four dollars a bottle in areas affected by a natural disaster, entrepreneurs will start driving in with cases of water to sell them to the people that are need of such an essential life sustaining good.  This means more water for the people that need it and potentially lives could be saved when prices are allowed to rise.  Instead, price controls prevent this process and lead to shortages.  The reason is pretty simple, in a natural disaster; people will all start buying water because it is relatively cheap (same price as a non-crisis).  If it becomes expensive, only the people that need the water will buy it.  For example, if I have two weeks of water stocked up, I might not go out and buy any water at all if it costs four dollars a bottle.  If the cost is cheap, under a dollar a bottle for example, I might stock up anyway, even though I am well prepared.  This means that the person who has not stocked up will not have any water to buy because I bought it all up even though I have reserves stored already.  Even more, this person might have bought water for ten dollars a bottle but if there is no water to buy, this need can not possibly be met. The market was not allowed to sort out who needs the water most and who does not.

 The market allocates resources to the areas of the economy and to the people that need it most severely. Even those who cannot afford water still depend on charities that can acquire water on the market, if the water is all gone, charities can not relieve this need either. Price controls can only interfere with the market process of allocating resources most effectively.  Unfortunately, politicians from both the right and the left will enact price controls to stop the “gougers” but inadvertently (I hope) harm the people that are most in need.  The fact the price controls result in very negative effects is understood by economists from both the right and the left and everywhere in between.  Even the writers from Slate magazine understand this but politicians will never pass up the opportunity to become “strong leaders” in a crisis and scapegoat innocent market actors that have done nothing wrong.

End the price controls, let people have the liberty to buy and sell water so that the neediest among us can have water they require!

629 thoughts on “Chris Christie vows to stop “Price Gougers”

  1. It’s a shame you don’t have a donate button! I’d without a doubt donate to this excellent blog! I suppose for now i’ll settle for book-marking and adding your RSS feed to my Google account. I look forward to brand new updates and will talk about this blog with my Facebook group. Chat soon!

  2. I think this is one of the most significant information for me. And i’m glad reading your article. But want to remark on few general things, The website style is great, the articles is really excellent : D. Good job, cheers

  3. Excellent blog here! Also your website loads up fast! What host are you using? Can I get your affiliate link to your host? I wish my site loaded up as fast as yours lol

  4. Hi there! This post couldn’t be written any better! Reading this post reminds me of my old room mate! He always kept talking about this. I will forward this page to him. Pretty sure he will have a good read. Thanks for sharing!

  5. Great article! This is the type of information that are meant to be shared around the internet. Disgrace on the seek engines for now not positioning this submit upper! Come on over and discuss with my web site . Thank you =)

  6. A person necessarily lend a hand to make significantly articles I might state. This is the first time I frequented your web page and so far? I amazed with the research you made to create this actual submit incredible. Great activity!

  7. Hello there! This is my 1st comment here so I just wanted to give a quick shout out and tell you I genuinely enjoy reading through your articles. Can you suggest any other blogs/websites/forums that go over the same subjects? Thanks for your time!

  8. Thanks for one’s marvelous posting! I genuinely enjoyed reading it, you might be a great author. I will make sure to bookmark your blog and definitely will come back down the road. I want to encourage that you continue your great job, have a nice day!

  9. An impressive share! I have just forwarded this onto a friend who was doing a little research on this. And he in fact bought me lunch simply because I found it for him… lol. So let me reword this…. Thank YOU for the meal!! But yeah, thanx for spending the time to discuss this issue here on your web page.

  10. 266856 523728This internet web site is often a walk-through rather than the details you wanted about it and didnt know who ought to. Glimpse here, and youll certainly discover it. 308354

  11. Hiya very nice website!! Guy .. Beautiful .. Amazing .. I will bookmark your web site and take the feeds also? I am glad to seek out numerous useful information here in the publish, we’d like develop more strategies in this regard, thank you for sharing. . . . . .

  12. 466784 99209We offer the most effective practical and most applicable solutions. All our Sydney plumbers are experienced and qualified and are able to quickly assess your difficulty and discover the most effective remedy. 548391

  13. Pretty component of content. I simply stumbled upon your weblog and in accession capital to claim that I acquire in fact enjoyed account your blog posts. Any way I’ll be subscribing for your augment or even I achievement you get right of entry to consistently rapidly.

  14. 724226 910164I discovered your weblog post web site on the search engines and appearance several of your early posts. Always preserve the top notch operate. I additional the Feed to my MSN News Reader. Seeking forward to reading significantly a lot more on your part down the line! 118978

  15. Good day! I know this is kinda off topic nevertheless I’d figured I’d ask. Would you be interested in exchanging links or maybe guest writing a blog article or vice-versa? My site discusses a lot of the same subjects as yours and I believe we could greatly benefit from each other. If you happen to be interested feel free to send me an e-mail. I look forward to hearing from you! Wonderful blog by the way!

  16. Thank you for the auspicious writeup. It in reality was a leisure account it. Glance complicated to far brought agreeable from you! By the way, how can we keep up a correspondence?

  17. Simply want to say your article is as surprising. The clearness in your post is simply nice and i can assume you are an expert on this subject. Well with your permission allow me to grab your RSS feed to keep up to date with forthcoming post. Thanks a million and please continue the gratifying work.

  18. Wow that was odd. I just wrote an really long comment but after I clicked submit my comment didn’t show up. Grrrr… well I’m not writing all that over again. Regardless, just wanted to say great blog!

  19. After looking into a number of the blog posts on your web site, I truly like your way of blogging. I bookmarked it to my bookmark site list and will be checking back soon. Please check out my web site as well and let me know how you feel.

  20. What’s Taking place i’m new to this, I stumbled upon this I have found It positively helpful and it has helped me out loads. I hope to give a contribution & assist other users like its helped me. Good job.

  21. Wow that was odd. I just wrote an very long comment but after I clicked submit my comment didn’t show up. Grrrr… well I’m not writing all that over again. Regardless, just wanted to say fantastic blog!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *