DGS49
Diamond Member
In most areas of the economy, "price gouging" is the mode of operation that all manufacturers/sellers strive for. Why do you think big corporations all have R&D departments? So that they can develop unique beneficial technology that they can either patent or keep as a trade secret, thus facilitating "gouging" of their customer base. When you have a couple of such unique products or services, you can maintain the less profitable lines to pay the overhead and remain viable. Without them, you are in trouble.
There are only a few segments of the economy where price gouging is manifestly harmful to the public, and one of them would appear to be pharmaceuticals, but politicians (who are business-retarded) should step very lightly in that area because in addition to those products where they are making a killing, they are developing products - at great cost - that will not be efficacious and the investment will ultimately be a complete waste. They have to have both winners and losers, so if you punish them for exploiting their winners, the harm to the business could be dramatic.
The price gouging that bothers me personally is Ticketmaster and similar organizations who have taken the former crime of "scalping," made it "respectable," and fuck the public nightly. But no one is forced to but a Taylor Swift ticket, eh?
There are only a few segments of the economy where price gouging is manifestly harmful to the public, and one of them would appear to be pharmaceuticals, but politicians (who are business-retarded) should step very lightly in that area because in addition to those products where they are making a killing, they are developing products - at great cost - that will not be efficacious and the investment will ultimately be a complete waste. They have to have both winners and losers, so if you punish them for exploiting their winners, the harm to the business could be dramatic.
The price gouging that bothers me personally is Ticketmaster and similar organizations who have taken the former crime of "scalping," made it "respectable," and fuck the public nightly. But no one is forced to but a Taylor Swift ticket, eh?