Yesterday some dude posted a video to shame apparently Indian gas station owners charging $10 a gallon around the Hurricane Helene disaster area. The lolberts answered with rebuttals that free market pricing is the best rationing mechanism in a time of scarcity.
People are saying that the gas station could ration gallons per customer and keep the same price, and the lolberts are saying this is communist price control.
I'm not really sure how much merit is held by either position since I've never really thought about this with respect to a disaster area. Clearly the 1973 price controls were a bad idea, but this is a debate over what a private business owner should do after a hurricane. My gut feeling is that gas should be rationed by customer, not by pricing. But maybe the gas station is passing along supply chain pricing to a certain extent?
edit: Texas punished gas price gouging in 2019 after Hurricane Harvey.
Well he has a lease, payroll taxes, PTO he owes possibly everyone, vendor contracts maybe, loans to repay, vehicle maintenance, expenses related to the damage from the hurricane, and his own life's expenses, and he only has for income whatever is in those tanks at the station. He might not make $1 until next summer with a property that is costing him significant expense.
Why do you need cheap gas in a hurricane zone? Why is it a right that supercedes his?