Michael Giberson
Rainbough Phillips amusingly tags price gouging as “the Phantom Menace” in a post on Catallarchy. She also provides a neat insider’s look at the supply and demand for emergency supplies, viewed from the returns counter at an Austin-area big box hardware store.
Meanwhile, back in Houston, authorities are urging the city’s gasoline station employees and owners to return as soon as possible.
It is purely a coincidence, of no relevant economic logic or moral importance I’m sure, that the higher the gas station’s price-cost margin, the greater the incentive the station owner would have to do what authorities are saying would be the right thing to do. (Or, perhaps, even remain behind during the storm, the better to serve their customers.)