I guess you never lived in FL.
Even on the national news during some of the previous hurricanes, it was shown on TV that police were arresting people "profiteering" on selling generators to the victims at "higher than retail prices".
Perhaps a little education before you raise the BS flag.
Ignorance is no excuse.
EDITED TO ADD:
From Brendan I. Koerner of MSN Slate's "Explainer" column:
Hurricane Charley has reportedly brought out the worst in some merchants, as the Florida attorney general's office has been inundated with complaints about price gouging. Among the travesties cited are a $10 bag of ice in Orlando, $3 gallons of gas, and $2,000 power generators. At what point does a little legal—albeit morally suspect—profiteering turn into illegal price gouging?
I rarely read the phrase "morally suspect" in any column anywhere, but there it is. I single out Koerner's column because it captures the dominant mode of reporting. (It is a piece about the way the disaster has been handled in the media.) This, then, is the essence of immorality in an age dominated by moral relativism: Selling a product for the price it will command.
It seems that Florida law prohibits vendors from charging:
...an "unconscionable price" for their wares during an emergency. The attorney general is responsible for deciding what constitutes an unconscionable price, using prices over 30 days prior to the crisis as a barometer of what's fair market value.
Another word chalked full of moral indignation: "unconscionable."