Have you heard people like Bill O’Reilly or government officials, or wondered yourself, how markets set prices? For things like, o say oil and gas. Read Prices as the Result of Human Action but Not of Human Design. While it’d be nice to be able to blame evil oil corporations for profiteering from high prices, the actual price is a result of complex interactions. It’s a lesson worth heeding before we try to scapegoat people for “price gouging”.
The price is the result of a wide, deep interaction of many buyers and
many sellers, each bargaining in light of their own unique knowledge of
time, place, and circumstance. (My apologies to Hayek’s ghost for
stealing his phrase.) The same is true of oil prices and gasoline
prices.