Congress Daily reports this morning that the Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection Subcommittee ranking member Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., said the FTC should be given more authority to investigate inflated prices.

More authority. The government always wants more authority.

Luckily we still have some politicians who understand the free market. Representative Cliff Stearns, R-Fla. hopes market forces and not federal controls, will determine prices in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

We hope so too. The only hurdle for the free-market would be a government imposed one. So we say, leave the market alone. Period.

Iain Murray over on Tech Central Station lays out the myth of “price-gouging” nicely:

Rather than "gouging" members of the public, gas station owners are actually helping them by raising prices. This may seem counter-intuitive, but we have to consider how supply, demand and price interact. Normally, supply and demand dictate price, as is the case when gas prices spike. When price, however, is fixed, as would be the case if an "anti-gouging" law was in effect, then demand will outstrip the supply available. Shortage is the inevitable result. Gas would be rationed in some way, whether it is by some arbitrary legal fiat or by long lines at the pump. A black market is also more likely.

For more on the fallacy of price-gouging check out Rand Simberg’s “Three Cheers for ‘Price Gougers.’”