> Let me conclude by relating one of my favorite stories:
>
> The City of Galveston, TX is located on the Gulf of Mexico, and as such,
> yearly faces the risk of hurricanes. When a hurricane is bearing down
on
> Galveston, the price of plywood to board up windows and doors regularly
> increases to several times its ordinary cost. People from surrounding
> cities load up their trucks and vans with plywood, and drive down to
> Galveston to take advantage of those high prices and make an extra buck.
>
> Now, the City Council of Galveston, TX thought that this was grossly
> unfair. If plywood cost a certain price in January, then the price
> certainly should not increase several times just when then citizenry
needed
> the plywood the most. Neglecting for a moment that everyone living in a
> hurricane zone like Galveston should stock up on plywood whenever the
price
> is relatively cheap - the City Council took matters into their own hands,
> declaring that plywood prices would not be allowed to increase whenever
> there was a threat of a hurricane.
>
> Sure enough, the next hurricane rolled around, and prices stayed flat. Of
> course, without the high prices, the truckloads of plywood from
> entrepreneurs from nearby inland communities never materialized either.
> This time around, the City of Galveston was terribly short of plywood, and
> when the hurricane finally hit, the damage was enormous.
>
> Suffice to say, the City of Galveston promptly repealed its ordinance in
> time for the next hurricane.
>
> JDG
John, I like what you say about 90% of the time. Usually you say what I'm
thinking a lot better. (Here it comes). BUT I was suspicious about this
story. I've been to Galeveston and I'm a weather buff. My knowledge said
that since 1900 Galveston was hit only four times with Hurricanes. Of course
even indirect hits cause a lot of wind hundereds of miles away, but I didn't
think the townies were shuttering up their houses every time a storm got
past Cuba.
I do know where your story comes from but I saw no supporting evidence that
Galveston tried to control prices. It even sounds implosible. There is just
too much area to cover that would cause that much spare plywood to be
trucked to Galveston. A storm that hits Galveston will certainly do damage
to Houston, unless they were noticing plywood being sold from trucks from
Oklahoma or Arkansas.
Of course stocking up isn't an issue. You really can't store plywood
effectively, it has to stay dry all of the time and to keep enough for your
house or business would quickly seem a waste if you didn't use it for three
years. A smart home owner would have storm proof shutters.
Otherwise you points are valid. just wondering about the source.
Kevin Tarr
Trump high, lead low
