Because it only got us $56,000. That’s only about one-third the amount the state could save if Mary Easley were fired (the amount looks even smaller when you consider that resigned NC State Provost Larry Nielsen is still drawing his nearly $300,000 annual salary).
Yes, the Great and Powerful AG Cooper went out and saved $56,000 from Evil Small Businessmen Who Did The Price-Gouging (because, you know, politicians know the true price of things and therefore can tell between price-gouging, unfair competition, and collusion).
Meanwhile, the law he’s enforcing is so deplorably stupid that the state is now contemplating an even stupider law to counteract the unforeseen consequences of the first. Not surprising, those consequences were unknown in this state prior to the anti-gouging law. Turns out that letting prices reflect a temporary scarcity encourages people to ration gasoline consumption voluntarily such that what supply there is doesn’t run out. The negative consequence of that, however, is that politicians desperately craving attention don’t get face time for “doing something.”
