Thursday, April 27, 2006

GOP: Some Gouging is Good

Democrats in the legislature tried to get an up or down vote yesterday on a bill that would have made price gouging illegal in Wisconsin. Senator Dave Hansen (30th District) attempted to bring up Bill 373 for a vote but the Republicans that control the legislature voted it down. In it's place the Republicans voted for a watered down version (Bill 358). That bill would only address price gouging in times of natural disaster and other emergencies.

It seems strange that they would pass this watered down version during a time when we are paying nearly $3.00 a gallon. We are not in the midst of any natural disaster or emergency right now, so this legislation does nothing about the price gouging that we are suffering from right now.

What is the lesson here? The Republicans have been dragged kicking and screaming to do something about price gouging. Now they can use this bill to say that they "did something." The problem with the "something" that they did is that it doesn't help a soul who is struggling right now.

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