...Look at Price Gouging Zwolinski brings into question a very interesting view to the moral status of price gouging and how it should not be illegal. He uses a mix of several examples to express this idea, but shows us how there is no ultimately right answer to this complicated issue. Although Zwolinski brings into question many issues like exploitation and supply and demand there are three main points that he uses to defend his stance on the issue. These points include how state laws are not precise and include normative statements, how prices and allocative efficiency come into play, and how those that are in most need for relevant goods are made worse off. One of the most important arguments for his take on this topic comes down to definition of price gouging and how it is stated in the state laws. Words like “unreasonable” “unfair” and “unconscionable” are normative statements and can be open for interpretation. What one may see as unreasonable or unfair to them, I may see as justifiable. One’s perception of what is justifiable will differ from person to person. The name gouging has a negative connotation to it and it can be seen as an action that is wrong. This is a strong opening argument for Zwolinski because it calls into question each state’s law about what exactly price gouging is. Each state may have to go back and rewrite these laws in order to make it more specific. This argument allows Zwolinski to question the law and its definitions pertaining to price gouging...
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...week's materials. This week I found the section of the reading on price gouging the most interesting. The section on price gouging is located in chapter 2 on page 19. Although the section was brief it caught my attention and I wanted to look into it a little more. During my research I came across an article titled “Price Gouging Laws Hurt storm Victims.” In the article the author talks about how the Government creating anti price gouging laws actually hurts the victims of the natural disaster. According to the article, price control create shortages, this happens when the price isn’t allowed to rise to coordinate the wants of buyers with the wants of sellers and as a result shortages occur. The government doesn’t realize that by passing anti-price gouging laws that they believe are helping the victims of natural disasters they are in fact hurting them by preventing them from being able to purchase supplies they need during a crisis. I found this article to be very interesting because the book talks about price gouging in a negative way and how it is a form of price control that the government imposes to protect the economy and promote economic efficiency. The article I chose does not support the stance that the book does. I do not necessarily agree with the article but every topic has two sides and I thought it would be interesting to read about the other side. The book presents the argument for anti-gouging laws that protect victims from being taken...
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...Price gouging most likely is a negative term for most people. The reasons are price gouging can be meant as unreasonable and unfair charging comparing to normal at the time when people really need it. In addition, it can be meant that business owner suddenly raising the prices and taking the advantage of the increase demand due to an emergency event. There are many arguments saying price gouging is moral, or amoral. However, if we base on the cause of price gouging, it is not about moral or amoral. Price gouging is all about the market demand and supply. First, most people feel price gouging is amoral. The reason is because people need to pay a lot more for supplies; it is unfair and unreasonable for them. People argue that price gouging is amoral, that’s why there are anti-gouging laws in some countries. On other hand, there must be a reason of why price gouging occurs. In normal situation, there is no reason for a business to increase prices sharply. Businesses usually decrease the price instead of increase the price, because of the competition with other businesses. Price gouging mostly happen when only the demand increase such as after natural disasters, or before any storm. Second, the disadvantage with the law of anti-gouging, it hurts the storm victims and makes their life harder. The anti-gouging laws, prices keeps low, people will buy as much as they can before the storm arrive. That will end up shortages on supplies, and the people who really need it as emergency...
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...country who believe that you can get the best things for the best price. The country where we can get the best medical care for a decent price, but throughout my years of living here, I have yet to experience any of those things, especially when it comes to the prices on not only the simplest items, but on medical equipment and supplies that many people rely on. Throughout this society there have been an economic problem that is coming a float. Prices are rising, and people are going “broke”. The epidemic problem of PRICE GOUGING is getting out of hand! Meaning when in a time of need/ desperation and a state of emergency companies...
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...have been maximin rule – decisions made that identifies the worst outcome for each decision and choosing the decision with the maximum worst payoff (Thomas & Maurice, 2013, p. 647). 2. “A portfolio manager needs to pick winners—assets or securities with high expected returns and low risk.” What is wrong with this statement? This statement should read “A portfolio manager should choose a winning portfolio that matches the level of risk and provides the expected return of the investor.” A diversified portfolio carries a lower risk than individual stocks and should be the matrix for a successful investment, investing in securities with high expected returns involves a high level of risk. 3. Do you favor anti-gouging laws as a means of protecting consumers from high prices following natural disasters, such as Hurricane Katrina in New...
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...Equilibration Process Paper During Hurricane Sandy, the city of New York experienced price gouging by merchants due to the increase in demand for many products. The supply is limited; therefore, many merchants decided they would be able to capitalize on the needs of the consumers. However, during the storm, public transportation was limited, and the buses weren't running due to the cost of fuel, trains, and the subways were at a standstill due to the flooding. Uber, a car service company, came into the picture for transportation. This paper will show how the demand and supply of transport services were affected by Hurricane Sandy, during a time of disaster, and how the consumers reacted to the changes in prices. The Law of Supply and Demand Maddalena (2012) states, “It is all a matter of supply and demand and what happens when one or both are disrupted from their normal point. When a market is functioning normally supply and demand intersect at a point (called the equilibrium point) which bases the best price that the market is willing to pay as well as the best quantity that the market will provide. When a market is disrupted due to some external event, supply and demand can change causing a new equilibrium point and a new price and quantity” (Maddalena, 2012). With the events taking place during Hurricane Sandy, the Uber transportation company took advantage of the consumers by surging their prices for services rendered. Surge pricing by definition means, the cost of a single ride...
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...set to about $160 billion dollars, which would set it as the most expensive natural disaster to ever occur in US history. Other estimates seem to cost much less, but rising, according Bloomberg, Harvey is set to cost around $75 billion dollars in economic losses. The damages rose up $33 billion dollars the previous day. Gasoline prices have skyrocketed from the Hurricane. For example, AAA reported that the...
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...The Influence of Law in Business Practice Intro to Business & Technology March 23, 2014 The Influence of Law in Business Practice There are several laws in the United States that are meant to set a standard for fair, balanced, and competitive business practices. These are, by design, a way to ensure that trade- international as well as domestic- is done in a reputable and progressive fashion. There are many aspects that come in to scrutiny in considering whether a business is operating in a way that is fair: one view on this subject I found was related to The Eagle and The Condor Theory. “There is no universally recognized definition of Fair Trade, but its principles and practices include fair wages, cooperative workplaces, consumer education, environmental sustainability, direct trade with producers, financial and technical support for producers, community development, respect for cultural identity, and public accountability through transparency.” (Stenzel, 2012). Related to this description of fair trade, there are laws in the U.S. that aim to regulate business. One such law is the Federal Trade Commission Act of 1914. The Federal Trade Commission Act of 1914 was set up to prevent unfair competition among businesses. It also allowed for a Commission (The FTC, or Federal Trade Commission) to be formed to regulate businesses and enforce the Act, which oversees many different things- from false advertising to false claims related to where a product is made. The...
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...A. Briefly assess the law from a deontological perspective (intentions, principles, non-consequential). To assess the law from deontological perspective, we would have to define first what deontological means: Deontological ethics or deontology (from Greek deon, "obligation, duty"; and -logia) is an approach to ethics that judges the morality of an action based on the action's adherence to a rule or rules. Deontologists look at rules and duties. In the wake of natural disaster, essentials -- such as food, ice generators, lanterns, lumber, etc. -- may be in short supply. By Florida law, charging exorbitant or excessive prices for these and other necessities following a disaster is not only unethical, it's illegal. Assessing the law from a deontological perspective we would have to say that the Florida law is trying to pursue “the moral thing to do” in this kind of situations where people are desperate to obtain these items that in a state of emergency become basic needs for survival. Stating the deontological ethics there would not be bad consequences from the act of prohibit price gouging in the market neither the consumers because we would be following the rules of helping one to each others. Morally people should not take advantage of difficult times to increase prices that would harm the consumer and his ability to obtain the products that would help him/her survive. B. Assume that you manage a retail business in a low to medium income area of Miami...
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...Commission debated net neutrality nearly two years ago, several major ISPs signed a letter threatening to, in essence, suppress innovation and investment in infrastructure if the bill, which would require common carrier laws to apply to telecommunications, was passed. Over twenty states have some form of restriction or legal obstruction for new telecommunication services, often instituted at the behest of the existing cable companies (Baller 5). For example, Nevada prevents all municipalities with more than 25,000 residents from providing any telecommunications services (Baller 3). On the same side of the coin, existing ISPs often employ tactics such as suing startup companies with no basis in order to force the cost of legal and lawyer fees (Brodkin). Finally, if a startup is successful in spite of all opposition, large telecommunications companies will simply buy it out. The end result is that competition is nearly inexistent, save for ventures from other large companies such as Google’s fiber initiative. In areas where Google has introduced its high speed fiber network, AT&T has dropped prices per month by up to forty dollars and made promises of introducing its own fiber lines in order to remain competitive (Snyder). The case of Google Fiber proves that the prices charged by ISPs are artificially inflated, that there is no technical limitation to the implementation of higher speed internet lines, and that competition will in fact drive the cost of internet access down while promoting...
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...DRUGS Raymarr Shivers COM/220 April 8,2012 Jennifer Gaylor Introduction Dependency on drugs is considered by many as different in kind and is a chronic illness. Some people think that a drug pusher is just like committing murder. Drugs have been with us since the beginning of time. Depending on different eras and cultures drugs are used differently and with agriculture large quantities of drugs are able to be produced. You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to know that the drug epidemic has destroyed many dreams and lives of people of all ages and races. Just about anyone can become an addict when trying out a drug. Most people already know that pain medication is prescribed and available easy and too much and in turn this is creating addicts. In the year of 2010 pharmacies dispensed something like 42 tons of hydrocodone and 69 tons of oxycodone. That’s enough drugs to give each human being in the United States of America 24 Vicodins and 40 Percocet’s. Prescription drugs are exceeding all drugs in levels of abuse. The rates are staggering with deadly results all across...
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...agrees that business managers must understand finance and marketing. But is it necessary for them to study ethics? Managers who answer in the negative generally base their thinking on one of three rationales. They may simply say that they have no reason to be ethical. They see why they should make a profit, and most agree they should do so legally. But why should they be concerned about ethics, as long as they are making money and staying out of jail? Other managers recognize that they should be ethical but identify their ethical duty with making a legal profit for the firm. They see no need to be ethical in any further sense, and therefore no need for any background beyond business and law. A third group of managers grant that ethical duty goes further than what is required by law. But they still insist that there is no point in studying ethics. Character is formed in childhood, not while reading a college text or sitting in class. These arguments are confused and mistaken on several levels. To see why, it is best to start with the question raised by the first one: why should business people be ethical? Why Should One Be Ethical? There is already something odd about this question. It is like asking, “Why are bachelors unmarried?” They are unmarried by definition. If they were married, they would not be bachelors. It is the same with ethics. To say that one should do something is another way of saying it is ethical. If it is not ethical, then one should not do it...
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...lead to a huge amount of power for AT&T and will be in violation of anti-trust laws set forth by the government itself. This deal is not in the public interest and federal regulators should scrutinize this deal and consider the effect it will have on smaller telecommunication businesses, consumers, and employees. Time Warner owns popular media companies such as CNN, HBO, and Warner Bros. Studios. AT&T is a major provider of telephone, internet and cable services across the nation. Both of these companies are incredibly large and prosperous on their own. Together, they would make the few number of companies that dominate the telecommunications market even smaller. This could have a negative effect on the free-market economy if they use this power to monopolize the market. This is exactly what Anti-trust laws were designed to prevent. The Clayton Act, an...
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...Economics: A Crisis at Hand During a time of crisis, such as in the events of a Hurricane, Flood, or other disasters, the demand of basic commodities such as food, water, and fuel rise. In a Capitalistic Economy, the costs of these commodities are governed by supply and demand. Businesses tend to take advantage of the crisis by increasing their price on goods and services. This practice is known as “Price gauging”. Price gauging according to (thefreedictionary.com) is known as “pricing above the market price when no alternative retailer is available”. This, in essence gives large and even small businesses an opportunity to flourish in times of crisis. While I do believe a Capitalist market is overall better than the rest, I do not agree with it during a time of a disaster. During times of natural disasters, first responders (ambulance, fire department, and police) are always immediately present on the scene. In a Socialist system, emergency situations are best handled because the government takes control of the system, and provides a way for those emergency crews to be paid, and in return allows them to help people in need. The government will also come in and provide whatever care is necessary to help their citizens survive. For instance, if there is a tornado going rampant through Central Texas, the federal government, state government, and even charities will come and pitch in to help those in the areas affected. Granted, we do not run a socialist system but this is...
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...Monopoly is nearly always seen as something undesirable. Courts have wrestled with monopoly for ages, sometimes defining it as: "the power to control prices and exclude competition", "restraining trade", or "unfair and anti-competitive behavior." Should monopolistic practices be condemned and outlawed? Let's look at anti-competitive behavior and practices, but let's not confine ourselves to what's traditionally seen as monopoly. Monopoly means that a firm is sole seller of a product without any close substitutes, controls over the prices the firms charge. Government sometime grants a monopoly because doing so is viewed not only to be in the public interest, but also to encourage it with price incentives. However, monopolies fail to meet their resource allocation efficiently, producing less than the socially desirable quantities of output and charging prices above marginal cost. Thus, this inefficiency of monopoly causes the quantity sold to fall short of social needs. Law The existence of a very high market share does not always mean consumers are paying excessive prices since the threat of new entrants to the market can restrain a high-market-share company's price increases. Competition law does not make merely having a monopoly illegal, but rather abusing the power a monopoly may confer, for instance through exclusionary practices (i.e. pricing high just because you are the only one around.) It may also be noted that it is illegal to try to obtain a monopoly, by practices...
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