Berwick is exactly right here. Price gouging is the only way to ensure that people who need things the most are the ones that actually get them. Say that the price of a case of water was limited to $10 when the market demand and supply equilibrium is set at for example $90. What is to stop someone who doesn't really need that water that badly to come in and buy the store out, and leave the people who actually needed the water helpless? Nothing. Sustaining a free market equilibrium is the only way to ensure that goods and services are allocated to exactly whoever is willing to pay for them. What Texas needs right now is for the free market to just work like it should, less they want it to end up looking like Venezuela.