Should prices be allowed to rise after a disaster?

Cristina's comment should be on the dispute side. 'messing a little' = messing with it (using Scott's words)

Hey Cristina, the problem with "regulation" is best explained by Hayek in "The Road to Serfdom" - central planners do not have access to all the information that would be needed to set prices, and even if they did they are themselves imperfect. That is not even taking into account the cost of paying for inspectors etc who would essentially be substituting their own value judgements for the judgements of the market. Most users of Ueber are middle-class who could have afforded it - and if Ueber was overpricing then it would have received no business, that is the best "punishment"! Hearing Chris Christie threaten and berate businesses was disappointing but expected from a politician who seeks to pander and a lawyer who has essentially been a state employee all his working career and has little or no grounding in economic fundamentals.

Yes, there will be increased employment because of the storm, and that's good (albeit short-term), but it's unfortunate that many of the mainstream media have expounded the economically illiterate view that the storm is for that reason economically beneficial - Bastiat's "broken windows" fallacy exploded this myth more than 100 years ago but it is ill-understood by those who seek to shape opinion.