Not So Fast...

Supply and demand aren't excuses—they are determinants of a commodity's value. If prices don't go up when supplies go low, you have shortages. If firms agree on freezing prices, they'd be committing crimes. But politics always comes before economics and logic and antitrust law. https://t.co/o4kdMg1Ocn

— George Conway🌻 (@gtconway3d) September 28, 2022

I've lived through three major hurricanes in Houston in 20 years. Rita never amounted to much, but following on the horrors of Katrina and due to the exodus of people from New Orleans to Houston, Houston tried to evacuate. Fortunately the storm didn't hit here, and the people stuck on the road from here to Dallas (250 miles away; the entire highway was a parking lot from here to there) didn't die in a raging hurricanoe. (Shakespeare; look it up.) But things were quiet for a while; stores were closed, gas pumps silent. I don't remember prices spiking after that, although they could have, as drivers limped back to town desperate for gas they'd run out of (literally) on the highway.

Ike walked all over us, even as far inland as I am, setting off tornadoes and downing trees that in turn took down power lines and effectively shut the city down for three weeks as the damage was cleared and power slowly, slowly, slowly, restored.  Again, stores were closed (no power), gas pumps silent (ditto), and yet prices didn't spike.  Again, they could have, for the few who had power the whole time, and as power slowly came back on-line.  But it didn't happen.

Then came Harvey, worst of the three (so far).  This time we were all trapped in floodwaters, and nothing could move.  When the waters finally receded, prices again could have spiked, due to demand and supply (stores and gas pumps couldn't be restocked until the waters were gone, and rather like covid but on a local scale, that took time).  Again, prices didn't spike; but they could have.

This was very local (I can't speak for the rest of the coast during these storms).  Did suppliers and store owners know better than to gouge their customers?  Probably.  Are merchants in Florida more venal?  I don't think so.  But "freezing prices" in the face of a natural disaster and immediate recovery from same (we have whole neighborhoods still waiting to "recover" from Harvey) is not a crime any prosecutor is going to take to court.

Which is the real logic that comes before economics and antitrust law; and arguably, in the Aristotelian sense, the real politics, too.

And while we're on the subject of hurricanes:

“It is no longer possible to safely evacuate,” he said. “It’s time to hunker down and prepare for this storm. This is a powerful storm that should be treated like you would treat if a tornado was approaching your home.” 

"Hunker down" is a phrase made popular by Bill White, former mayor of Houston.  He was mayor during the disastrous evacuation for Rita, when he urged people in the path of the storm to flee for their lives. He meant people on the coast (Houston extends to the coast and far inland out of the path of most hurricanes that come around here.) After the horrors on TeeVee of Katrina, most of Houston decided they were in the "path of the storm" and fled, with disastrous results.  So the next time a storm came, Mr. White was still mayor and this time more measured in his pronouncement.  He advised coastal residents specifically to evacuate, but told the rest of us to "hunker down."

And it's been a staple of hurricane warnings and government advice to those in the path, ever since.  In fact, the phrase now is almost solely attached to natural disasters and how to survive them (well, the ones you can't run away from.  Nobody hunkers down for a forest fire or a flash flood.). 

You're welcome, America.  Just doin' our part from down here on the Third Coast.