So you bought your house in Clarence twenty years ago. You paid $100,000 for it then, but now the kids are gone and you want to sell it and move into something smaller (a loft in downtown Buffalo no doubt.) Houses on your street now sell in the $150,000 range and that's what you decide to ask.
Are you price-gouging? Is that $50,000 profit just an unearned "windfall?"
That's what the politicians claim that gas-station owners are doing. Those bastards buy gas and raise the price before they've sold it!
YOU: "But Craig, that's different," you say.
NCO: "How so," I retort.
YOU: "Because gasoline is a necessity. It really should be regulated by the government."
NCO: "Oh?" I inquire wonderingly. "But housing is certainly more of a necessity than gasoline. If I can't put a roof over my chilren's heads then we'll have nowhere to live."
YOU: "But the gas station owner is in business."
NCO: "Oh. You mean that he's trying to make a profit and that's wrong."
YOU: "Stop it, Craig. Profit's fine -- if it's sensible. But excess profits that take money away from people who are obviously in distress are just wrong."
NCO: "Oh, you mean like doctors who charge to see sick people? Or funeral directors who make a living off the death of loved ones? Or even collision-shops who charge us to fix our indispensable cars?"
YOU: "No, that's not what I mean at all. Everyone's entitled to make a living but I think that gas prices are just too high and something should be done about it."
"NCO: "What about your house in Clarence. It's a dump and everyone knows it. Why should you be allowed to ask whatever outrageous price you want?"
YOU: "Well, if it's too high, then no one will buy it. I'm not forcing anyone to do anything."
NCO: "Precisely. That's the point. And don't forget to point out that shag carpet in the family room."
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