I know one family, and this is a fact, who did not sign up for employer sponsored healthcare because they have some sort of coverage through the state, due to low/no income. Another person I know got $55k charged off when it was discovered he didn't have insurance. A third without insurance (the youngest) made arrangements for payments after he received his $55k+ bill, and moved out of the country. This kid had a sprained ankle and was transported by helicopter to a different hospital under the insistence of the staff. He should have sued. Since I've written 55k twice, I expect I must have got a figure wrong somewhere. But they were both multi ten thousand dollar numbers. I really do wonder about insurance. Take the kids for a physical. You don't have insurance, is a flat fifty bucks. If you have insurance, it's a couple hundred. Something is screwy about that.
But if people are willing to buy it, is it still gouging? If it were gas, I could see calling it gouging. We all have to have gas. But lumber? That's discretionary I think. If the builder prices it in, and the client agrees, it's just business. The client has the ability to say no. They can buy an already built house. They can rent. If I ask $10,090 dollars for a box of nails, and somebody buys it, that doesn't make ME the bad guy. The buyer bought. I didn't force him. He didn't have to have it. Food would be a thing where gouging could occur. But how about meat? It's more expensive now, right? How many people are eating three times more of it than their body requires? Pretty much every American, is the answer. Buying three times less meat would solve that gouge in a hurry. But who is doing that? Nobody. They're still buying a hundred pounds of meat a month and complaining it costs too much. Buy less. It'll also help with the love handles. More money. Better health. Less chances of gout. Lol. All I'm saying is, I don't hear anybody complaining about the cost of broccoli...
