In case you missed it this week, More than a dozen Democrats late Wednesday quietly threw their weight behind Big Pharma and voted down an amendment that would have allowed pharmacists to import identical—but much less expensive—drugs from Canada and other countries.
The "power and wealth of the pharmaceutical industry and their 1,300 lobbyists and unlimited sums of money have bought the United States Congress," Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) declared in a speech on the Senate floor.
A textbook case of price-gouging: an animated infographic showing why university books in America cost so much
But with a third summer of high gasoline prices, lawmakers are debating legislation they claim would punish oil companies for exploiting the tight supply situation and engaging in “price gouging.” At the same time, they are pressing refiners to produce more fuel.
“Refiners want to keep running in today’s economic environment,” said Mr. Drevna of the refiners association. “But when they shut down they are accused of gouging the system. When they don’t, they are criticized for overrunning their facilities.”
“At best, the gates would have gouged lumps out of the timbers – at worst, if she had stuck in the dock entrance, and sat there unsupported as the tide fell beneath her, the keel could have broken,” said naval historian Brian Lavery, who has been researching the episode as curator of the 250th anniversary exhibition, with exhibits at Chatham Historic Dockyard, including the bullet that killed Nelson, loaned by the Queen. “The cables were fixed to haul her out into river, but they would have had no means of dragging her back into the dock. She would have been destroyed, and the usable timbers recycled.”
Price gauging used to be illegal. Now price gauging is back. A new report by the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau finds that payday lenders typically charge over 400 percent annualized interest, and their low-income customers who go back for six renewals (not unusual) end up paying more in fees than the original amount of the loan. Meanwhile, Uber is charging its customers as much as $39 per mile or $9.50 per minute when demand is highest (such as during a storm), according to filings the company just made with New York’s Taxi and Limousine Commission. Under these conditions, a ride to La Guardia Airport from Brooklyn can cost $780.
The reason price gauging used to be banned was because it was once thought unethical to exploit customers in desperate need. But the economic game is now rigged in favor of those with the power to charge whatever the market will bear. Price gauging should be illegal once again. What do you think?
By THE EDITORIAL BOARD
The Federal Communications Commission took an important step to end price-gouging but more needs to be done.
Piroska Nagy said the liaison was consensual but she had felt coerced because Mr. Strauss-Kahn was so senior to her, a person with direct knowledge of her version said.
Did Babies "R" Us Gouge Mommy and Daddy?
By Sean Gregory
A class-action suit asserts that the retailer coerced baby-product companies into fixing their prices. Smart business or a not-so-cute conspiracy?
Although there are few independent statistics on the settlement industry, there is no doubt that some generous deals are being done.
{紐約時報}報導美國煉油廠事故連連，造成油價大漲。文中用到gouge一字，它的俚語意思為欺騙；
“Traders with gas to sell are making a killing, and the utilities they’re selling to are getting destroyed.”
gouging 【名】暴利行為
gouge
its slang meaning (to cheat, defraud, swindle or extort)
n.- A chisel with a rounded, troughlike blade.
- A scooping or digging action, as with such a chisel.
- A groove or hole scooped with or as if with such a chisel.
- Informal. A large amount, as of money, exacted or extorted.
- To cut or scoop out with or as if with a gouge: “He began to gouge a small pattern in the sand with his cane” (Vladimir Nabokov).
- To force out the eye of (a person) with one's thumb.
- To thrust one's thumb into the eye of.
- Informal. To extort from.
- Slang. To swindle.
North American informal Overcharge or swindle(someone):drugs sold by the same manufacturers who are gouging patients in this country
[Middle English, from Old French, from Late Latin gubia, variant of gulbia, of Celtic origin.]
gougergoug'er n.
中文（繁體）n. - 圓鑿, 以圓鑿刨, 溝
v. tr. - 用圓鑿子削除, 挖出, 欺騙
v. - 丸のみで彫る, くり抜く
n. - 丸のみ, 穴, 詐欺, ペテン
[名]
1 丸のみ；丸のみで削る［彫る］こと；丸のみで彫った溝［穴］.
2 ゆすり, 搾取, 強奪；((米略式))詐欺, ぺてん；詐欺師.
━━[動](他)
1 …を丸のみで彫る［彫って造る］；…を（丸のみで）えぐり出す；…を（丸のみを使ったように）えぐる, 掘って造る；…を掘り出す((out))
2 ((米略式))〈人から〉（金などを）ゆすり取る；…をぺてんにかける.
Pronunciation: /gaʊdʒ, guːdʒ/
noun
verb
[with object]
Derivatives
gouger
gouger
noun
Origin:
late Middle English: from Old French, from late Latin gubia, gulbia, perhaps of Celtic origin; compare with Old Irish gulba 'beak' and Welsh gylf 'beak, pointed instrument'
coerce
tr.v., -erced, -erc·ing, -erc·es.- To force to act or think in a certain way by use of pressure, threats, or intimidation; compel.
- To dominate, restrain, or control forcibly: coerced the strikers into compliance. See synonyms at force.
- To bring about by force or threat: efforts to coerce agreement.
[Latin coercēre, to control, restrain : co-, co- + arcēre, to enclose, confine.]
coercer co·erc'er n.coercible co·erc'i·ble adj.
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