Gov. Ron DeSantis issued a state of emergency for 33 Florida counties on Saturday in anticipation of Hurricane Idalia, thus activating one of the most misguided and counterproductive economic policies imaginable.
Yes, with the sweep of his pen, DeSantis banned “price gouging.”
With a hurricane barreling toward his home, Friday Gold Wrap podcast host Mike Maharrey called an audible and recorded this week’s show ahead of time. And since the hurricane is in the news, as well as top-of-mind for his family, he uses it as a jumping-off point to talk about some economics including the concept of “price gouging” and the “broken window fallacy. He also touches on dollar strength and how it’s impacting the gold and silver markets.
Hurricane Ian is taking aim at Florida. That means there is already talk of “price gouging.”
People have a visceral emotional reaction to people raising prices during a disaster. But it is nothing but feelz. In fact, “price gouging” serves an important economic function. Not allowing prices to rise actually causes more harm.
There is a meme floating around social media that seems to prove greedy corporations – specifically oil companies – are the root cause of inflation.
How does this meme stack up to reality?
Short answer — it doesn’t.
I know a lot of you come to Fun on Friday for the advice.
Well, here are your words of wisdom for today – never read the comments.
It will really help your sanity.
As I write this, Hurricane Dorian is taking aim at Florida. What’s fun about that? you might ask. Well, nothing. And I don’t want to minimize the potential for disaster. But the hurricane hasn’t hit yet and the runup to a storm provides a lot of amusement and some educational moments. I just can’t resist.
