My first week here at Mizzou is coming to an end. It's been an interesting, fast-paced week full of walking around campus and trying to figure things out. One thing I've noticed, and I know others have too, is that even though everything we need is on campus you might have to talk to people on opposite ends from time to time in order to accomplish something. In elementary school, I learned how to jump rope, but now I'm learning to jump through hoops. As bad as that sounds, it's life and it's a necessary skill to learn.
Something else I've learned is that there are so many different perspectives on different topics. Yesterday in my Microeconomics class we talked about price gouging. When I think of this process of increasing prices of necessary items, I immediately think of "evil" businessmen taking advantage of innocent people who just went through a traumatic experience. My view was questioned when our professor asked what we would do if we needed a flashlight and there were only two left in the store. Because price gouging is illegal, the flashlight costs only $5, the same price as it was before the storm. Most people said they would buy both flashlights, leaving none for anyone else. He then went on to ask what would happen if the flashlight was $20. Most people were willing to buy one flashlight at that price because they needed it, but would leave the other. That really made me think. Is it right to not allow prices to increase when the value of that item increases? Could increasing prices actually allow more people to acquire necessary supplies?
On the other hand, if you've just lost everything and have a very limited amount of money could you afford to spend the extra on what you need? Could having a limit on the number of items you could purchase be a better solution? Some interesting thoughts that may prove to be very relevant to current events with the recent earthquake in Virginia and the approaching Hurricane Irene off the east coast.
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