Goods (and services, for that matter) are worth what people are willing to pay for them.
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Originally Posted by cwhit23
Is this the same concept of price gouging gas when the government creates a panic that there is going to be a gas shortage? Same difference in my opinion. It's wrong and I don't agree with it.
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Not the same. We live in a society where gas is a necessity, pretty much. Most people depend on their cars to get to their jobs, so they have no choice about paying inflated prices for gas. (In theory, there are other things they can do, such as buying more economical vehicles, or carpooling, or finding jobs that are closer to home -- but in practice, especially in the short run, they're stuck paying higher prices.)
But even in that case, the source of the inflated price is an increase in the cost of the raw material, driven by speculation at the level of commodities markets, not "price-gouging" by Joe who owns the gas station on the corner.
If people are willing to pay inflated prices for things that aren't necessities, like yet another gun, or even a first gun (strange as it may seem to us, many people don't regard guns as necessities, and manage their lives just fine without them), there's nothing unethical about charging them what they're willing to pay; they're
making a choice to buy something that's not a necessity in the same way that gas, food or medicine are necessities.
And lots of people like expensive stuff better. It doesn't have to be better quality, just more expensive -- then they
think it's better.
So why not make them happy?
