Posted by Johnnymac 11:53 AM
I just wrote a huge opus on how "price gouging" is a dumb thing to be worried about and about how the traffic jams from last week could have been avoided if people had been forced to pay $6 or $7 per gallon for gasoline. But that post somehow got lost in the ether of internet security here at work. Oops.

Anyway, Mrs Johnnymac and I saw a lot of moving vans and trailers and single-occupant vehicles on the road last week during our evacuation, and I think a lot of that came from families driving more than one car or trying to take too much stuff with them as they evacuated. I don't feel like rewriting all of my arguments all over again, so just read this column and try and make the connection that more demand for space on the highway is directly analogous to a hotel with a limited supply of rooms. If the price for driving had been higher, there would have been more space on the highways per person (and not necessarily per car) and thus the traffic jams would not have been as bad.

The concept of Supply and Demand is not immoral, the politicians just want us to think so.

Similarly, what if the price of 'D' size batteries had been twice or even three times as much as normal. Would the stores have sold out so quickly? A pair of batteries typically lasts 15-20 hours of continuous use, so assuming 'normal' sleeping patterns and flashlight usage, an eight pack of batteries might last two weeks. Only in extreme cases would electric power be out more than two weeks after a hurricane and even then that would only be in isolated places - so is there any other reason people would be hoarding flashlight batteries except that the price was just too low to begin with? If you want to discuss "fairness", is it fair that some people have more than they need and some people go without? That's the whole point of supply and demand - prices aren't set solely by the retailer, despite what many idiots in this country want you to believe; prices are also set by consumers and thus with more people than normal demanding batteries, the price should have been higher than normal, too! Why is this so hard to understand for some people?

And don't even get me started on the people who bought enough bottled water last week to fill a swimming pool!

Now back to your regular poker blog.

5 Comment(s):

Posted by  Junelli, at 1:39 PM, September 26, 2005  

Isn't your argument akin to the "tax on the poor" argument that you made against legalized gambling in Texas. If you allow Supply & Demand to control the price of gasoline the only people that would be able to leave the city are the people in Memorial (with the strongest houses).

Lee H.S. areas would be fooked!

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Posted by  Johnnymac, at 1:48 PM, September 26, 2005  

Eh, not necessarily. I will deconstruct it sometime in a later post.

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Posted by  Dr Fro, at 10:24 PM, September 26, 2005  

or if people drove more fuel efficient cars, we would need less fuel per person

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Posted by  Dr Fro, at 10:05 AM, September 27, 2005  

or if the Houston electorate didn't shit on every proposal to increase mass transit options, it might have been easier to transport masses.

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Posted by  Dr Fro, at 10:08 AM, September 27, 2005  

if summary, we have a culture that worships the car and holds sacred the individual's right to drive whatever they want however they want wherever they want (and as cheaply as possible)

last week is evidence that it may be beneficial to challenge that assumption embedded in our culture.

last week isnt the only evidence, just the most recent and the only one in the scope of your post

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