[gargravarr]

I think I disagree here; the only positive I can see to price gouging is that it might act as an encouragement to those who might otherwise stay in harm's way to quickly get the heck outta Dodge. Price gouging may well be the clearest illustration of the laws of supply & demand, but they are still exploitative. There is no need to double the price on something that's in demand to ensure supplies from elsewhere come in; stores have supply chains and logistics networks. They can figure out in seconds where vital things are being bought up. They can predict trends and know what's going to be in demand. There is absolutely no need to send prices through the roof.

If Shepperson was really trying to help, he would have offered those $500 generators for the cost of shipping (divided by 19 generators) plus a modest profit. Double the price is exploitation, pure and simple, and is a nice thing to have the government protect consumers from. Doesn't matter that there were people willing to pay his asking price; in times of crisis, there should be no need for those people to be that desperate. Making money off the backs of those not in a position to argue? No morals, IMO. But then, that's capitalism, isn't it...