On Price Gouging

Yesterday, the mayor of Houston complained that FEMA was taking too long with getting supplies such as ice to Houston. If our government would allow market forces to take over, the pricing system would have sent signals to the rest of the country that ice and other supplies were needed in Houston, and they would have everything they needed there within hours. Of course, those price signals that result in the rapid delivery of products to places where they are needed is called "Price gouging," which the mayor and too many other politicians also complain about. Idiotic "price gouging" laws result in supply shortages during crises, which the politicians then complain about. Some people aren't happy that there are those who are "profiting from other peoples' misery," but the fact is that such profiting results in goods being where they need to be when they need to be there. Also, that logic is a slippery slope. I'm pretty miserable when I'm hungry. Does that mean food should be free? Only Michael Moore would say "yes."