[nickzarzycki]

Under certain circumstances, often involving human suffering or vulnerability, demand based pricing becomes price gouging. Uber's actions here look like price gouging. It's all very simple.

Everyone defending Uber here seems to be either deploying the 'where do we draw the line' fallacy, or claiming that there's no such thing as price gouging.

If you want to defend Uber, you need to show me why what they did isn't price gouging. Or you need to show me that price gouging doesn't exist.

[tsax]

More blather. Its irrelevant whatever you choose to call the phenomenon. The fundamental problem is scarcity of goods and services. Its a shortage of fuel, water, food and other goods the delivery of which won't be carried out because you have determined that raising prices is morally bad. Prices are a signaling mechanism. You focus only on the nominal price and its supposed "profit-mongering" by the suppliers, but it signals where demand exists and for tankers/suppliers to deliver the goods where the demand is highest. Or you can stand in the street corner calling the suppliers immoral and demand that the cops arrest them for price gouging. Great! But you won't get your ice/fuel/water. Good luck.

[nickzarzycki]

Let me ask you then: do you think that all scarce emergency supplies should be allocated using price (perhaps via auction) during a disaster?