What is the best means for distater planning: government or market? As this story says, and many local reports confirm, Meijer grocery stores in the Midwest stayed open during the power failure, providing gas, water, batteries, and all the rest, while keeping all cash registers open for 24 hours and serving all comers. They did this by use of their own private generators. Sam’s also remained open. Both stores served the public with great heroism.What did the government do during the blackout? Other than refusing to take reponsibility for the failure of a sector closely managed by the regulatory state at all levels, the state political establishments cracked down on price “gouging”—which is to say, tried to stop private enterprise from rationally allocating resources. See Mises.org on gouging.
