Anyone can defend these practices all they want and call them anything they want. Nobody or any argument they can make is going to convince me that thia behavior is morally defensible.

The only logical reason I can see for anyone defending this type of thing as OK is if they are the type of person who would do the same themselves given the opportunity.

I certainly hope that isn't true of anyone around here, though sadly it probably is.

When tragedy causes a short supply of a commodity and someone doubles or triples the price to take advantage of it as a result, that is gouging and it is morally wrong IMO - I don't give a fig what economists say. I flatly refuse to do business with people like that. It is well documented that CTD is one such entity.