Once again, Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster stymies the workings of free market capitalism. According to a statement on his official website, he and all the government forces he can rally will be on guard “against price-gouging following the devastating tornado in Joplin.”
Evidently, Koster is unfamiliar with the central tenet of Adam Smith’s “invisible hand” theory of commerce. A shortage of goods or service in one location will cause a rapid rise in its price, and the result will be an inflow to rebalance the market. Disruptions in a free market will self-correct — or so it is said.
Only an advocate of wet-nurse government would approve of such socialistic restraint undertaken by our attorney general. I thought unfettered capitalism and small, unobtrusive government is the default position of the Republican Party.
The Joplin area spawned a stalwart of free-market capitalism in the form of Roy Blunt. I wonder where the good senator stands on this issue.
Stanley Robinson
Princeton, Mo.
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Dont worry, Koster does'nt really care about price gouging or the free market. It was just killing him to see Jay Nixon and other officials getting all that national exposure and him being left out.
Posted by: oscar | May 31, 2011 at 05:29 AM