NST Leader: Moral limits of the market

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NSTleader During the 2015 floods in the east coast, prices of necessities increased. Kelantan showcased how low men can go when greed enters the profit equation. Petrol was being peddled at RM15 per litre when pump prices were more than 5 times lower.

Double whammy indeed. One death and a thousand over cases of H1N1 later, is this the right thing to do? Price gouging during times of emergencies?

If this wasn’t enough, one whole chicken was priced at an appalling RM38. Prices of instant noodles and a bottle of 1.5 litre mineral water were equally wicked.America, the land of plenty, had its own version of a sorrowful story in Hurricane Charley that hit Florida in 2004. There contractors were reported to have charged US$10,000 to clear a tree from rooftops. Generators, the household variety, that are normally sold for US$250 were being hawked for US$2,000.

Doctors and pharmaceutical companies will take exception to Crist’s words. Happily for them, they have the support of free marketeers, or more famously known as neo-liberal economists. For them, it is all about supply and demand.

 

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