"Price Gouging" Gets a Bum Rap

When two people voluntarily agree to exchange, there's no such thing as "price gouging." It's just simply the "price." However, what tends to happen (especially during emergencies) is that buyers are not happy with the emergency "price," so they call for government to threaten (or use) force against the seller. Buyers want government to ensure them the non-emergency price, which of course, leads to shortages. Ironically, the greatest "price gouger" in society is the government itself.