The Major Failure in Post-Sandy NYC is the Free Market: Gasoline

[cthulu2016]

18. This is just about the worst possible example

Any station that cannot pump because power is out is certainly not showing a failure of entrepreneurial imagination. The power is out.

Any station that cannot get gas supply because of anything to do with roads is not showing a failure of entrepreneurial imagination. The roads are closed.

Any station that takes extraordinary steps to meet demand will be the lead story on the news for "gouging," and depending on the locality may face legal sanctions for such, so there is no long run benefit to trying to meet demand today.

With the extreme demand in place, any gas station in the area would buy/rent a generator at any price, and buy truckloads of gas at any price, and price the gas according to those extraordinary costs.

Why do you think they do not? What are you suggesting? That the private sector doesn't like money? What is the evidence for that?

At $10/gallon there would be no supply problem at all that was not attributable to failures of public utilities (electricity and roads) so you couldn't pick a worse example of a failure of the free market.

There are plenty of trucks laden with gasoline in Maryland, Delaware and Pennsylvania that will drop whatever they are doing and head anywhere in New Jersey they can drive to to sell that gas to a functioning gas station at $9.00/gallon wholesale.

People's opposition to "gouging" is akin to medieval opposition to lending at interest. It arbitrarily expects a service to be magically provided at substantially below the real value of the service.