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Comment by geraldyo | Hacker News Reader

Both are examples of price gouging... ?

No, price gouging is actually a thing which means a thing - it's not a term you can just apply to whatever you want.

Most states define it as charging inflated prices during a crisis or emergency, not simply raising prices beyond what geraldyo thinks is reasonable.

If some term has different meanings in different legal contexts, and you believe that having a meaning in a legal context precludes having a distinct colloquial meaning, how can you tell GP they're using the wrong meaning before you've asked where they're posting from?

Wikipedia: "Price gouging occurs when a seller increases the prices of goods, services, or commodities to a level much higher than is considered reasonable or fair."

it never had that meaning. it's a concerted effort by democrat politicians and media: they say "price gouging" because that's something most people agree is wrong when it's actually normal economic behavior in response to both parties' really stupid economic policies. they're doing this because they want more control of pricing and that's how they're going to lie their way into it and spread disinformation about what's happening.

edit: updating with proof, Texas state definition is "selling or leasing fuel, food, medicine, or another necessity at an exorbitant or excess price, or demanding an exorbitant or excessive price in connection with the sale or lease of fuel, food, medicine or another necessity."

Food is in that definition twice, and if half that price increase goes directly to profit, that seems like excess to me.

In 3 years, food is up 20%, after several years of extra low inflation, but raw produce is up much less. That's frustrating, and faster then some people's wages, but not extreme. People who can't afford that should unionize and get paid more for their work, not get weird price subsidized from vendors. There is cause for concern that prices will continue to increase

https://www.in2013dollars.com/Food/price-inflation/2108-to-2...

have you ever started a local? half the time you can't get a national to commit legal resources so you're screwed if the employer doesn't agree to card check, which they won't

then there's the question of does the union have any real leverage, which varies a lot by industry and trade. ufcw for example has failed both in securing real wins for grocery workers AND in pushing against price gouging by grocers

after being failed by nationals (for me it was usually cwa), tried going more wildcat but iww are just as ineffectual for different reasons, then got involved in the co-op space but groups like usfwc are just as ineffectual for still different reasons

no they're not. price gouging is extreme price hikes or exorbitant pricing not your groceries being 15% more expensive. it's literally a word with a meaning and people are 1. intentionally misusing it to push an agenda of increased state intervention in pricing or 2. accidentally misusing it because they can't be bothered to understand what their words mean. "price gouging" is a false narrative politicians are using to shirk responsibility for insanely irresponsible fiscal and monetary policy, because now they want to "solve" it by grabbing even more government power because what could possibly go wrong with that.

edit: for proof here's how Texas defines it per https://www.galvestoncountytx.gov/our-county/district-attorn...:

"selling or leasing fuel, food, medicine, or another necessity at an exorbitant or excess price, or demanding an exorbitant or excessive price in connection with the sale or lease of fuel, food, medicine or another necessity."

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