This was written by ex-US State Dept. employee William Blum, written in the late 90s about the inability of markets to address humanitarian catastrophes:--
"Following the disastrous 1994 earthquake in Los Angeles came the cry from many quarters: Stores should not be raising prices so much for basic necessities like water, batteries, and diapers. Stores should not be raising their prices at all at such a time, it was insisted. It's not the California way and it's not the American way, said Senator Dianne Feinstein. More grievances arose because landlords were raising rents on vacant apartments after many dwellings in the city had been rendered uninhabitable.
How dare they do that? people wailed. The California Assembly then proceeded to make it a crime for merchants to increase prices for vital goods and services by more than ten percent after a natural disaster.
In the face of all this, one must wonder: Hadn't any of these people taken even a high-school course in economics? Hadn't they learned at all about the Law of Supply and Demand? Did they think the law had been repealed? Did they think it should be? "
"Do Americans Really Believe in Free Markets?" William Blum:
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