Larger text
Smaller text
Print
E-mail
'Gouging'? Try govt. price-fixing
Dimitri Vassilaros is a Tribune-Review editorial page editor. He can be reached at dvassilaros@tribweb.com or 412-380-5637. He also blogs at KDKA
Lease an 18-wheeler. Load up on gallons of gasoline, a gross of generators and enough bottled water to satisfy a dipsomaniac crawling in the Sahara. Then load up on speed, black beauties and bennies before double-clutching nonstop to hurricane-ravaged Florida. Sell to the highest bidders and then cruise home on easy street.
But before I could clean out Sam's Club, Charlie Crist, the Florida attorney general, put the brakes on my road trip.
Hurricane Frances had picked up where Hurricane Charley left off -- blowing away the Sunshine State. The headline in Tuesday's Trib, "Mopping up after Frances: Residents anxiously await power, fuel, supplies, FEMA," looked like opportunity with bloody knuckles trying to knock down my door. Not only were there shortages, but the Federal Emergency Management Agency was missing in action.
From the Sun Herald newspaper on Tuesday: "In the wake of the latest hurricane, (FEMA spokesman Cleo) Howell conceded he didn't have all the answers Monday and that FEMA officials will have to 'regroup' and decide what the agency should do about people affected by both Charley and Frances."
That "what" probably will not be allowing Northern carpetbaggers to bring enough supplies to fill the demand. That would violate Florida's price-gouging law.
If there is a gross disparity between what was charged during an emergency compared to the previous 30-day average, it could be considered gouging, according to JoAnn Carrin, the attorney general's communications director. Fines start at $1,000 per violation, up to $25,000 for any 24-hour period. And it gets worse.
Under the state's deceptive and unfair trade practices law, the fine for each so-called offense could be $10,000. And if the victim is a senior or is handicapped, $15,000. State-sponsored price-fixing to protect the public.
But with shortages of supplies and government help, who exactly is being protected?
If instant entrepreneurs could implement our get-rich-quick schemes, the state would be flooded by desperately needed supplies instead of by the aftermath of Mother Nature. The only ones "gouged" would be those willing to pay what the supplies would be worth to them.
Free enterprise does not harm the less affluent because if I cannot sell at today's market price, I ain't drivin' down. Why bother?
Instead of outlawing the free market, Florida should embrace it with bear hug. Repeal the price-gouging laws and encourage everyone willing to take the risk to load up with supplies, drive down and satisfy every Floridian's demand. The more the merrier. The more supplies that are rushed in, the lower the price the buyers will pay.
Floridians are experiencing the same problems with shortages and unresponsive government that America experienced in the 1970s at the gas pumps. When a price is fixed, there is no motivation for suppliers to supply. However, when price controls are lifted, enlightened self-interest creates as much supply as the buyers demand.
Even though hurricanes have decimated the state's citrus industry, do not expect Florida's growers to be prosecuted for gouging when the price of your orange juice increases.
The desperate hurricane victims who remain in favor of the state's price-gouging laws are getting what they deserve.
