So says David Brown.

He's right.

How about John desperately needs a bag of ice to keep his daughters insulin cool and paid 5 dollars a gallon for gas because a looter siphoned off his full tank so he could go get the ice. But, not knowing the price jumped from $4.49 to $15.49 he takes his last $5.00 to the store only to be turned down because of free market economics. So he heads back home and since there are so many trees down, it takes him quite awhile. In the meantime, his daughter hasn't had her shot and the heat gets to her sooner than it would otherwise and her father gets home to find her in shock and with no insulin, she dies. No less plausible than the pile David Brown was shoveling. There is a reason profiteering is a crime.

His logic assumes those that need inflated price items in short supply can afford them at all. So if more could afford the normal price but not the inflated price there are more lives are at risk at the higher price. There is a reason profiteering is a crime.

In this case, barring a severe head injury, desperate John would plead for a price break, or to pay the extra $10 later. Problem is, no amount of bargaining or pleading for help is going to result in the magical creation of ice, if all the ice has already been sold at below-market prices. Also, as the article states, it's not just that the existing supply is preserved, it's that new supplies will be rushed or created to fill demand by those nasty profiteering people. It's not a zero sum world, and capitalism doesn't demand heartlessness.

Why doesn't John have a locking gas cap?

And, given the warnings of hurricane, in an area with famously unreliable power, why didn't he have a cooler full of ice for the insulin?

After a disaster, the real cost and real value of commodities go up. The price should properly track this.

John has a diabetic daughter that needs insulin to stay alive. He lives in Florida where hurricanes come every few years. He doesn't own a beer cooler. He doesn't have a small generator that would run his refrigerator. He has no ice cube trays in his refrigerator when he knows a hurricane is coming. None of his neighbors have a sleeve of styrofoam coffee cups to make a cooler from. He doesn't buy a solar powered insulin refrigerator. He doesn't have a battery powered insulin refrigerator that would run a week on his car battery. He has no cell phone to call an ambulance.

Yup, he sounds like a person who would blame his daughter's death on somebody else. Let's hear it for communism, where the price of ice is regulated!

If John says "My daughter is very sick!" I would bet he would get help. Under these conditions, there will be a shortage. If you allow prices to rise accordingly, people aren't going to buy ice just to keep their beer cold. California had an electricity crisis in part because the state forced retail sellers to charge less than they were paying wholesale. The state officials kept asking people to conserve, but many didn't even realize there was a problem except when the power went off. That all changed when the price went up.