Ain't We Got Fun

       Went to the supermarket this morning to get something we really needed - toilet tissue. The store was jammed with shoppers who apparently had never thought about storm supplies until a Cat 5 hurricane jogged their interest.

      It was almost amusing seeing the frustration of those who came to buy what their kitchen tap dispenses almost for free, when they were greeted by the "out of water" sign. Apparently it has never occurred to them to simply buy plastic containers in the 2 or 3 gallon size and fill them. The water simply will not spoil....ever. I know of one person who has a spa who was worried about having enough water to flush the john. Our small spa is 250 gallons, which will get rid of a lot of "stuff."

        In the midst of this I was reminded of another horrific John Stossel column, this one from Sunday, September 3rd entitled "Price Increases After Storms Serve Purpose."   After seeing the title, I simply couldn't help myself. I had to see what the brain damaged "free market" whore had written this time.

        First he derided Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton  for decrying "price gouging" during Hurricane Harvey. Yes, that's what I said; he was critical of Paxton's  opinion that price gouging during  a crisis is immoral. The examples cited by the AG  included a case of water raised to $99, and $5 dollar per gallon gas.

       Stossel, on the other hand thinks these are good things. Here is the moron in his own words, "Prices should rise during emergencies. Price changes save lives. That's because prices aren't just money - they are information."

Stossel, ever the apostle of Adam Smith's 250 year old and very simplistic economic theory, goes on to say that raising prices keeps the first customers from buying out supplies and leaves more for others. He continues with, "But if the store owner can charge $99 per case for water, you will buy less water and other customers will get what they need." He finishes with reminding us that it's simple supply and demand, and we should love it.

        And you know what? Stossel  is correct in his assertions with one logical hole through which the Spruce Goose could fly (if it weren't in a museum on Oregon): This statement is true for a steady state economy with normal fluctuations in both sides of the equation. Equating normal market operations with conditions such as the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Harvey in Houston and environs is criminally stupid. It also holds up Stossel up for what he is, the Rush Limbaugh of economics.

        In an emergency situation, and with a life critical resource such as water, persons like Stossel will always be ok, they're rich. He doesn't care about $99 per case water for two reasons. First, he can afford it no matter the cost and second, he doesn't live in a flooded neighborhood with no water supply and no income. Stossel has no empathetic connection with the paycheck to paycheck worker for whom a "spare" $99 for a case of water is a pipe dream. He also has demonstrated, in previous op-ed drivel, that he has no concern for them. His rants on free market health care have shown this to be the case numerous times. The economic and survival plights of victims of Harvey are, seemingly, of no interest  to Stossel, as long as those capitalists for whom he  shamelessly shills can make an even bigger buck out of the misfortunes of the disadvantaged. 

       Water on the shelves was already priced so that both bottler and distributor could fulfill the stated goal of the modern corporation: make a good return for shareholders.  In "Stossel World" this would be facilitated even further by the total absence of more modern regulations, incepted  to insure we don't return to the bad old days of Morgan, Rockefeller and Gould, monopolists, market conspirators and accumulators of fortunes built on usurious business practices in the free for all, "screw the consumer" America of the late 1800s. Stossel's repetitious, "unregulated  free market" theme  reminds me of the post WWI Gus Kahn and Richard Whiting  song with the verse, "There's nothing surer, the rich get rich and the poor get poorer. In the mean time, in between times, ain't we got fun.?"

       No, not if we're in Houston and playing by Stossel rules, "we ain't."