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All hail the free market

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by Stitch, Aug 30, 2011.

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  1. Stitch

    Stitch Active Member

    A hotel in Brooklyn jacked it's rate from $250 per night to $999 on Saturday as Irene was coming in. The free market will sort everything out and no regulation is needed.

    http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2011/08/29/2011-08-29_bklyn_hotel_soaks_shelter_seekers_for_999.html
     
    Stitch, Aug 30, 2011
    #1
  2. poindexter

    poindexter Well-Known Member

    I get your bitching, but I seriously think that we the people need to do more. Publicize this bullshit. Boycott the dump. Protest in front of that shithole.
     
    poindexter, Aug 30, 2011
    #2
  3. Azrael

    Azrael Well-Known Member

    There's no such thing as "price-gouging."
     
    Azrael, Aug 30, 2011
    #3
  4. Dick Whitman

    Dick Whitman Well-Known Member

    In the real world, markets fail because society is complicated. That's why the government has to regulate monopolies, for example. The best economic system is a free market system with limited government intervention in order to prevent market failures.
     
    Dick Whitman, Aug 30, 2011
    #4
  5. poindexter

    poindexter Well-Known Member

    Government's got better things to do than regulate prices during bad weather.
     
    poindexter, Aug 30, 2011
    #5
  6. The Big Ragu

    The Big Ragu Moderator Staff Member

    Honestly, in this case, I would bet they aced themselves, but I don't know that for sure.

    I know the place. It's a crappy little boutique hotel in PARK SLOPE. It's not even the Marriott in downtown Brooklyn, which probably had rooms at a third of that price. It's not a posh hotel on Park Avenue. I imagine the market of people willing to pay $1,000 a nigh to stay a Hotel Le Bleu was next to nil. At the least, most people who actually thought to book a hotel, rather than head to family or friends, probably called there, heard that rate and hung up.

    The really insidious price gouging, is when you are the only place left for miles with a couple of cartons of milk and you jack up the price to $20 a gallon when a lady with an infant walks in. It's a necessity or a semi-necessity. But Hotel Le Bleu? I'd love to know exactly how many people they got to pay $1,000 a night to stay in a crummy little boutique hotel in Park Slope. My guess is not very many, but who knows?
     
    The Big Ragu, Aug 30, 2011
    #6
  7. black dude with pompano

    black dude with pompano Member

    That's a rather flimsy story on which to base an argument, but it should be noted that price gouging in most places IS illegal.
     
    black dude with pompano, Aug 30, 2011
    #7
  8. JR

    JR Well-Known Member

    The bad publicity this may generate will be all the payback needed
     
    JR, Aug 30, 2011
    #8
  9. The Big Ragu

    The Big Ragu Moderator Staff Member

    It's illegal here and the mayor was warning during his press conferences. He basically said, too, that it generally isn't a problem in NYC, which I find to be true.

    New Yorkers defy the perceptions of people who aren't from here a lot of the time. I know it wasn't the most magnanimous gesture ever, but when we had the blackout 7 or 8 years ago, I remember during the walk home (all public transportation was down) guys from bodegas were giving away ice cream and ices that were just going to melt anyhow. It was kind of a nice gesture, because it was a really hot day.
     
    The Big Ragu, Aug 30, 2011
    #9
  10. Bubbler

    Bubbler Well-Known Member

    Please call State College, Pa. and give them the memo. Close to $200 per night for crappy Quality Inn-type places? Get bent Happy Valley. [/annoyedbeatwriter]
     
    Bubbler, Aug 30, 2011
    #10
  11. BrianGriffin

    BrianGriffin Active Member

    I agree. New Yorkers don't deserve the rap.

    I lived there as a kid and made frequent return trips as an adult (lack family there now, so I've only been twice since 2001) and I've never known New Yorkers to be inhospitable or unfriendly and they most certainly ARE neighborly (in general).

    However, if you walk around the business district or Times Square surrounded by thousands of other people, of course they aren't going to make a lot of eye contact. Too much humanity to acknowledge it all. This would be just as true in Topeka, Kansas, Biloxi, Miss. or Reno, Nev. if these places had that much humanity walking around in such a regular basis.

    Tourists confuse that with rudeness.
     
    BrianGriffin, Aug 30, 2011
    #11
  12. Cubbiebum

    Cubbiebum Member

    Last edited by a moderator: Dec 15, 2014
    Cubbiebum, Aug 30, 2011
    #12
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