Hurricane Harvey Is When We Need Price Gouging, Not Laws Against It

>Hurricane Harvey Is When We Need Price Gouging, Not Laws Against It

pastebin.com/LYquJSgp

Forbes pulled this article yesterday but it's still cached by google, so I put it in a pastebin.

Super short. Where do you stand on it, Sup Forums?
Is the solution to national crises as simple as a truly free market?

Price gouging its the only thing that controls frivolous hoarding.

There's another, better way. It's called rationing you stupid faggot.

yea people are responsible adults that will always make the best decision

This only happend because you guys are retards.
Why didn't your gouverment do shipments to crisis area already?
This is because you believe that it better that everything is private property.
You have been dropping free anti-tank wepons to terrorist in Syria but you can't give your own people fucking water.

If the argument is that price gouging limits hoarding, you are ignoring the argument that price gouging raises supply faster.
Can't have it both ways.

If you want a non legal method to control this then offer a government operated report on businesses that engaged in price gouging. That way people can make informed votes with their wallets and avoid businesses that gouged people.

Maybe just have a phone program that will notify a user when they enter a store that gouged people as a reminder.

It's sounds like your country doesn't care about you at all. Even moderate-terrorist are in higher priority than your own people.

our (((government))) isn't exactly a government of the people you see

I could definitely be wrong but it sounds like you believe the implication you're trying to make doesn't apply to a free market system, or that a free market system is the solution to the issue of people not always making the best decision, but I am not at all clear on why you think that.

If anything, people's irrationality is made all the more damaging in an unregulated market.

There's plenty of water falling from the sky you fucking retard. This is why Finland lost the winter war.

Harvey sure as fuck gave them shitloads of water, why would their government need to? :^)

yes we are aware

Oh yes, ((((rationing)))) can't be abused at all.

Catastrophes shouldn't be place to make profit.
Goverments job is to take care of its people.
It's better to just help these people to get back into life than rob them whit fucking water prices.

>Why didn't your gouverment do shipments to crisis area already?
Because people could literally up till the time of flooding take any container and fill it from a tap and have enough water to last a family for weeks.
Right now I have a garbage bag of bottles I'm keeping till I have enough to justify returning them. I could fill a month's supply of water in about 30min of work. I can stick about a week's worth of bottles into a backpack, or my full supply into my car.

Why can't people take personal responsibility?

Price gouging is a reflection of the scarcity of the resource.

If you offer sellers a high price, you will draw more sellers into the area and solve the scarcity issue.

The term "price gouge" implies somehow that the people buying it aren't doing so willingly. They're doing it willingly because their need is high.

necessities/utilities should not be gouged or monopolized

the hard part is deciding what is a necessity/utility, but once we decide on what is and isn't, the next step is simple. Don't gouge.

I think it is fair to say clean water is a necessity.

We really need to purge you retarded chimps.

It's how every civilized people deals with a disaster. You don't price-gouge your countrymen when they're staring death in the face.

Did you know that in flood areas getting CLEAN water is pretty hard and important
. If you don't wanna die to cholera.

Should adjustments or laws be put in place when not only the "need is high" but that need is literally what their survival hinges upon, like say for clean drinking water?

So rationing during a crippling disaster that cuts off your logistics is "retarded"?

No, that doesn't solve the issue. It only makes it worse.

Then you would have the situation where people buy a lot more than they need, and therefore the people who need it more won't get any.


The alternative solution to the free market, is to have the gov't bring in rations of water to give to the people who the government determines to need it.

Laws against price gouging are retarded and counterproductive.

I think this line of reasoning relies on believing either or both of the following things:

>drawing more sellers into the area and reducing scarcity will return pricing to an accessible level
which absolutely does not hold true in a crisis situation

>the consumer is treated as a single entity, and the fact that sales are being made is proof that "the consumer's" needs are being met
which again is completely untrue: when you're talking about buying bottled water in a flood, that's a straight up necessity. If you're able to afford it, no matter the price, you buy it. The fact that a sale is being made simply means "there exist people who have enough money to afford it" but does not mean "there are no people who cannot afford it." This point of view can easily be extended to defend extortion, yet no sane person would argue that extortion should not be a crime.

(((they))) always seem to got it when we need it

Tap wanter can be contaminated in flood areas aswell. Best way to get clean water by yourself is collecting rain.

God is punishing Houston because it harbors a lot of degeneracy.

Of course it's fucking retarded you mentally ill sack of shit.

Rationing leads to shortages.

Society really needs to get rid of you retarded commies.

>Goverments job is to take care of its people.
Well that's a point people don't agree on. Many people think the government's job is to create conditions to allow people to peacefully live without obligation to care for everyone.

I have no issue with price gouging laws that limit a price raise to maybe double of an old price, or at least rounding off to nearest dollars to avoid the need for change.

I was just saying that if you demanded a non legal solution we could simply blacklist all the businesses that conducted unethical action. That said I still don't get why people didn't have water ready to go.

What are you rationing retard? if theres no resources there then the only way to get them there is to bring them in. You can have the government bring bottles of water there for 100 bucks a pop or you can let an entrepreneur go there and sell them for 5 bucks a pop.

>No, that doesn't solve the issue. It only makes it worse.

the issue is people dying, I'd argue not having laws to ensure people get their water is not making the issue worse, it kind of solves the issue of people dying. The opposite of what you are saying.

In times of crisis specifically, you can either sell it ridiculously cheap or give it away with limits per person. You can't play the free market game in a time of crisis when people could literally die. I don't think if a bomb struck your community right now and you needed water and your local water jew started gouging the price for 500 euros a bottle, you'd just stand there and say "well, free market!"

if you WOULD do that, then you must be prepared to die of thirst at anytime.

>which again is completely untrue: when you're talking about buying bottled water in a flood, that's a straight up necessity. If you're able to afford it, no matter the price, you buy it.

There's a certain amount of water that is a necessity... but i can buy a lot more than i need to survive. Doing so would deny other people the opportunity to buy it.
The high price of the price gougers forces people to ration their resources because nobody wants to spend 100 dollars on tha bottle of water.... even if you're rich.

>>drawing more sellers into the area and reducing scarcity will return pricing to an accessible level

Of course it is. It doesn't happen exactly immediately, but of course anybody would take 97 dollars instead of 99... if there's competition among sellers.
Price gouging can only occur when there's no competition among sellers due to scarcity.

Maybe people should keep around extra food for an emergency.

what the fuck are you talking about, there is literally affordable water to drink everywhere in America and if you live in some shithole where there is sulfur in your water, buy a filter.

(((worstol)))

We're talking about a disaster here, martial law conditions.

>Tap wanter can be contaminated in flood areas aswell. Best way to get clean water by yourself is collecting rain.
Prior to the flooding the tap water was safe. After the flooding if you didn't suffer any floods and took precautions you could have simply isolated your hot water tank and you have a safe supply of water there.
The average sized hot water tank will supply enough water for drinking for a family of 4 for about a month.

I don't get why people don't have water.

You belong in a death camp you kike piece of shit.

> but i can buy a lot more than i need to survive. Doing so would deny other people the opportunity to buy it.

simple, in times of crisis, limit the water purchase per individual/ration accordingly. Your solution of price gouging is not a good solution, in your solution, only the wealthy can afford to live. In a polar opposite solution where it is dirt cheap and everyone can just take all of the water and some may not get it is a poor solution as well. You know there are balanced solutions right? You can have restrictions on how much water goes to each person yet keep the price affordable.

or y'know, just ration when people are literally about to die

>, I'd argue not having laws to ensure people get their water is not making the issue worse

You apparently didn't understand my argument then. Laws against price gouging ensure that people WILL die of thirst. It does not ensure that people get water.

Selling water for cheap doesn't make sense when you only have a small supply of water because it will be distributed to the people who don't need it. That means those people will die of thirst.

Yes because I'm sure droves of people run to hurricane infested lands to offer their best price on water bottles.

Your comparing rationing for an entire country vs a small area in need of disaster relief

It was a joke and yes you are right, unless you've got a proper water disinfecting and filtering system you need stored water either in water tanks or shitloads of water bottles

A ration for disaster scenarios is a temporary buy limit and a price cap. Wtf is the problem with that in a doomsday scenario?

So the merchants can get through to sell 9 dollar bottles of water but professional relief can't, this makes a whole lot of (((cents)))

We're talking about a life and death situation here, the market cannot operate under such conditions. If my life and my kid's life depended on a bottle of water and i didn't have $100 to buy it i would absolutely kill the person selling it and take it from him. I assume most people would do the same and the situation would dissolve in murder and looting very fast. I'm pretty libertarian myself but this is plain stupid.

Limit how much water per person while keeping the price affordable. Problem solved.

>limit the water purchase per individual/ration accordingly.

According to what? Somebody comes into my shop... can i sell them water? How much do they need? What if they say they have 10 children? Can i sell them 10x as much?

You have a bullshit solution that doesn't work in practice. A water salesman doesn't have the resources to know who needs and doesn't need water. The only way for him to tell is to raise the price.

>Laws against price gouging are retarded and counterproductive.
It was profitable before to ship and sell water. Why with a massively expanded demand would it become unprofitable to ship and sell water?

So selling only to those who can afford it results in less death than limiting on seller's discrection and affordable prices? What are you even saying? You realize in your situation the poor people never even have a CHANCE to get their water, where as at least in a situation where you ATTEMPT to limit how many per person and adjust based on necessity has the chance to save more people.

If I stock up on water to prepare for a crisis, and then decide to make my money back when a limited crisis occurs where other people lack water, you can go fuck yourself if you have a problem, because Im providing water that wouldnt be there, from my personal stock, with my personal time, at my own personal risk of being robbed by feral pavement apes.

Now, if someone goes in and buys all the water out of the store, and then sells it at 5x the price outside - they can go fuck themselves, and they should be robbed.

People will die of thirst in either case. People will be that desperate in either case.

>the issue is people dying
If anyone is so dehydrated that they are at risk of death they can take the risk of infection and slurp up some runoff water.
You might get sick but if the option is death or drink contaminated water, I think that's an easy call to make.

>jewish media defending jewish tactics
no surprise there

I'd pay to watch your commie ass be burned alive.

thats retarded i would just steal it if the price was too high

I think its goverments job to help its people when they are in crisis.
It would just be stupid to not help your fellow countryman.
Other way is to let the jews rob you because no one want to help anyone.

He's a redcoat not a (((jew)))

The results are the same, always.

Society really needs to stop coddling you retarded commies.

...

Look at how rations were done during WW2. Every child and adult was allotted a specific amount. It's not fucking rocket science.

literally an ancapball

>People will die of thirst in either case
No they won't. In this case the government steps in and forbids the water merchant to sell a bottle of water above a certain price. Adding to that send in humanitarian aid and noone has to die of fucking thirst

Americans are fucking crypto-commies and they don't even know it.

You're no libertarian. You're a scumbag democrat at heart.

I unironically agree with them.

i saw some oklahoma airforce urban search and rescue here in dallas, heading south, while i was getting insecticide at walmart.

it really hit me in the feels when i wished i could do something to help but couldn't.

shut the fuck up retard

>commie
>calling someone a jew

God save us from the useful fucking idiots.

>It was profitable before to ship and sell water. Why with a massively expanded demand would it become unprofitable to ship and sell water?

It was profitable to ship that much water from a particular place.
The problem is, setting up a new shipment to that area requires a lot of logistics that you're not taking into account.
You're pretending there's a shipping truck full of water somewhere who can just as easily change course.
The people doing the shipping often aren't the same people doing the selling.

Of course in the LONGTERM it would be profitable to set up a shop there assuming there were increased demand.
But the high price encourages water to go there RIGHT NOW when it's needed. It means disrupting the normal schedule and setting up new distribution lines. It's not as simple as you're pretending.

B-BUT WHAT IF SOMEONE IS DISHONEST OR THEY GET BACK IN LINE I CAN'T KEEP TRACK OF ALL THAT!!!! FREE MARKET SUPPLY AND DEMAND HURR

The last time my town had a disaster I was on the streets supplying my countrymen with free rations and pushing trees and debris out of the streets for free. If you can't serve your country freely in a time of dire need you don't belong in a civilized society.

>it will be distributed to the people who don't need it

No proof that is correct, or that only people that need water have enough money to buy it at an inflated price.

>That means those people will die of thirst.
No one is going to die of thirst with so much rain coming down. At worst people will be thirsty until they drink rain water. Hang a shirt out in the rain. Let it get wet. Squeeze the water from the shirt into your mouth. Problem over.

>forbids the water merchant to sell a bottle of water above a certain price
>no one sells water

You people are criminally retarded.

You literally said you'd steal other people's property and murder them.

You are subhuman scum.

The humanitarian aid is the only part of the solution that makes sense. And would be complete without the laws against price gouging.

The law against price gouging just makes it worse.

Why would nobody sell water you dumb fucking burger. I didn't say forbid him to make profit

The solution is to allow stupid people to die. Not my responsibility. Everyone knew a hurricane was coming.

Wouldn't you like to believe we live in a bit more of a civilized society than to let people resort to that? Is it really so hard to suspend ultra-hardcore free market autism during a time of crisis and just fucking help people out so they don't die/get lead filled water in their guts? I'm not even saying to give it out for free, maybe charge something, have them required to volunteer to help clean up or distribute supplies in exchange for water, just don't go fucking ultra-jew and price gouge water when people are suffering.Fuck what happened to the christian ideals you people harp on about

IT'S A DISASTER YOU FUCKING JEW. A FEW DAYS OF BEING CHARITABLE AND SERVING THE GREATER GOOD

>It's another commie retard doesn't understand the difference between voluntary donations and government regulation episode.

Society would be best served if you were sterilized. People this stupid shouldn't be allowed to breed.

you make two good points but they both work against each other, and neither takes into account a crisis situation.

I'm pretty well off, and you're right: if I saw a $100 gallon of water at my grocer, I'd give it a hard pass. If, however, my home was under 4 feet of water and my girlfriend and I had just been transported a town over, were sleeping in tents, and spent three hours fighting our way through a crowd to gain access to a market where, once there, I find out a gallon of water is $100, I'd think twice. Probably even thrice.

Hell, I might actually fucking buy it, because I need it to live. If I were unscrupulous, I might actually buy them all, and sell them at $200 because hey, why not, I have the means and the opportunity, and I know I'm guaranteed a return because everybody fucking needs this to live. I think this is pretty objectively a thing that any system should protect itself against, and I think that because I believe at the absolute minimum we should be trying to protect those in our community from exterior factors deciding whether or not they live or die.

It's the motivation behind my support of public services such as fire brigades, emergency services, everything.

Of course you forbade him from profiting you retarded nigger.

Americans are the scum of earth. They have no compassion to fellow countrymen. Kike plans worked perfectly.
Here in Finland we would help all our neighbour if something happened.
Here in Finland we call that ''Talkoohenki'' when people are doing work to help the community.

Is price gouging really that much of an issue? I can see corner shops run by some Indian cunt doing it but does it happen in large retailers and wholesalers too? Do walmart or costco change their prices in the aftermath of a disaster? If not, it's a non-issue desu.

how

>from each according to his ability to each according to his needs

Yea, I'm the jew here.

>No proof that is correct
There's no proof of anything in this thread.

>, or that only people that need water have enough money to buy it at an inflated price.
The point is that all the people who buy water in this situation are people who need it.
The point is not that all the people who need water are people who buy it.

Understand the difference.

What about people who don't have the money to simply drive away and stay somewhere else for months? Are they worthless for not having the money to do that? If everyone low-middle class and under is worthless, then you wouldn't care if they all perished? Who would work the manual labor jobs? The food service jobs? Who would do anything?

This is one of the most Jewish things I've read

it's not because it's regulated against
they don't because it's regulated against
the whole argument is whether or not it should be regulated against
if it wasn't, it would be an issue.

You limited his ability to sell his property at the price he and the purchaser agreed was fair.

How fucking retarded are you?

the real redpill is that the free market is the biggest kike scheme ever conceived.

Americans: We should not disrupt supply and demand in catastrophes because its natural But every terrorist organization needs some anti-tank missiles for free!

>communist uses NATSOC flag to get board cred

not him but you do realize that just because a price may be unfair to the merchant doesn't mean he won't make a profit. You know profit margins typically have lots of wiggle room right?

What are you talking about you mongoloid fuck? The Cajun Navy is all the god-fearing mainline Republican gun owners of the gulf states. They're all over the area in small fishing boats bringing supplies and providing evacuations.

I just love how the entire media is trying their damnedest to make this disaster an indictment on Trump and capitalism. I didn't hear ANY of this bullshit during any of the disasters that happened during Obama's term. I'm sure some asshole was selling bottled water for 99 dollars during hurricane Sandy too. Really makes me think!

Fucking this, lolbertarians are the biggest goys of all, only thing worse are the literal commies in terms of goyness

you are saying the opposite of what was written in the article

Thanks for doubling down on the retardation.