Former consumer advocate turned ultra-right corporate shill John Stossel recently shared his thoughts on the price gouging that occurred in the Gulf Coast area in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina:

In praise of price gouging (full article)
John Stossel
September 7, 2005
[...]

Consider this scenario: You are thirsty -- worried that your baby is going to become dehydrated. You find a store that's open, and the storeowner thinks it's immoral to take advantage of your distress, so he won't charge you a dime more than he charged last week. But you can't buy water from him. It's sold out.

You continue on your quest, and finally find that dreaded monster, the price gouger. He offers a bottle of water that cost $1 last week at an "outrageous" price -- say $20. You pay it to survive the disaster.

You resent the price gouger. But if he hadn't demanded $20, he'd have been out of water. It was the price gouger's "exploitation" that saved your child.

In the days following Katrina, cable news presented loop after loop of hurricane survivors obtaining essentials from grocery stores and other establishments.  Reporters and all sorts of television talking heads  condemned these actions as “looting.”  Little mention was given to the institutionalized inequities that have created a desperate situation amongst the lower levels of America’s socioeconomic strata — a situation that existed long before anyone had ever heard of Hurricane Katrina.  Stossel’s promotion of hyper-exploitative price gouging in the aftermath of a natural disaster is simply adding insult to injury.

Now, don’t expect too much from Mr. Stossel, the self-proclaimed “scourge of the liberal media.”  I remember watching Stossel’s appearance on “The Daily Show” in which he proclaimed that the “robber barons” of 19th century were basically a group of good, well-intentioned and upstanding Americans.  An amazing interpretation of history, even from a conservative standpoint, isn’t it?  And how about his so-called “Stossel Rule?”  This kernel of wisdom states: “For every law you pass, you repeal two old ones.” I guess that’s what we’ve been missing for so long...Arbitrary rules formulated by self-absorbed television personalities.  Surely this will protect the interests and livelihoods of the little people, eh?

But maybe Stossel is not so arbitrary in his analysis of commodity exchange.  Let's give him the benefit of the doubt.  Perhaps he can show us the “invisible hand” that’s guiding the gougers.  He revisits his scenario and explains just how and why that $20 bottle of water (and the price gouger) saved your baby:

It saved her because people look out for their own interests. Before you got to the water seller, other people did. At $1 a bottle, they stocked up. At $20 a bottle, they bought more cautiously. By charging $20, the price gouger makes sure his water goes to those who really need it.

The people the softheaded politicians think are cruelest are doing the most to help. Assuming the demand for bottled water was going to go up, they bought a lot of it, planning to resell it at a steep profit. If they hadn't done that, that water would not have been available for the people who need it the most.

Or perhaps those who “stocked up” might share it with their neighbors and charge nothing at all!  Perish the thought!  Let’s wrap this up with a parting thought from John “Give Me a Break” Stossel:

It's the price "gougers" who bring the water, ship the gasoline, fix the roof, and rebuild the cities. The price "gougers" save lives.

No, Mr. Stossell...It’s not the gougers that “bring the water, ship the gasoline, fix the roof, and rebuild the cities.”  It’s the working people of the world who do all these things and more.  And the gougers simply leech off working people by forcing them to pay inflated prices for the same goods that they produced, hauled and distributed.  

Are the price gougers heroes?  It certainly is a unique perspective, I’ll grant that much to Mr. Stossel.  Perhaps he can throw a parade for the gougers...It’s not likely that anyone will show, though.  Who could afford the confetti?  I’m sure it would be around $30 a bag if you have to buy it from a gouger. But on the positive side, I suppose we’d end up with a lifesaving surplus of confetti on hand.

The truth of the matter is, those who hoard essentials in times of crisis and then demand exorbitant prices from the sick and suffering are not heroes at all. It is far more accurate to say that these people are the very bane of humanity.  And surely the advocates of such extortion and exploitation are their partners in crime.

Recommended Reading: 
What is Economics? by Rosa Luxemburg
Give Me a Break blog entry from greekmangas.net