Well Gosh, I Hadn't Thought Of It That Way...

I just came across this interesting point of view from ABC News 20/20 co-anchor Mr. John Stossel.

In his September 7th article, In Praise of Price Gouging, regarding "merchants" charging $20 for a bottle of water in New Orleans, his position is that price gouging ensures that scarce resources go to only those who really need it.

Let him explain:

The people the softheaded politicians think are the 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.

Need it / Afford it. I guess they are the same thing...

As further proof Stossel provides an out-of-context quote from the author of 1776's bestselling An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, Adam Smith:

It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer or the baker, that we can expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest.

Well, yeah, but I don't think Mr. Smith was talking about a disaster situation. In fact, here is another one of Smith's views, from The Theory of Moral Sentiments :

How selfish soever man may be supposed, there are evidently some principles in his nature which interest him in the fortune of others and render their happiness necessary to him though he derives nothing from it except the pleasure of seeing it.

Stick that in your pipe and smoke it, Stossel.