"The law of supply and demand"

Price-gouging is a term used to point out over-pricing of goods, e.g. in the state of an emergency (like the hurrican in New Orleans a few years ago) in which some suppliers are tempted to take advantage of the situation by charging high prices for essential goods. In some parts of the US, price-gouging is a crime.

This guy argues that price-gouging is, in fact, a good thing. According to his argument, those who really need a specific scarce good (be it food, petrol or something else?), will also be willing to pay a high price for it. "The station owner is actually doing his customers a favor by charging a high price because he stays open much longer to sell all his limited gas to those who most in need." He explains that suppliers are motivated to keep providing the goods, despite the costs, if the prices are kept high enough. "Those in need will pay". The world of pure economics. The law of supply and demand is actually considered as the one and only thing of importance in the practices of buying and selling things. Of course there is no easy solutions here (in a situation of non-emergency, I have mixed feelings about Americans complaining about high petrol prices), but the picture of the customer in this guy's text is hopelessly naive.

"Both economic theory and several thousand years of historical experience clearly demonstrate uncontrolled prices and markets provide more goods and services to those who really need or desire them far better than attempts at government control."

Hm.