John Sheperson is a hero. When Hurricane Katrina struck, he turned on the news and learned that people in Mississippi had lost electric power. They desperately needed generators. He decided to help them, while helping himself.

He borrowed money, bought 19 generators, rented a U-Haul and drove it 600 miles to Mississippi, where he offered to sell the generators for twice what he paid for them. Eager buyers surrounded his truck. "People were excited," he said.

So did the generators go to hospitals? To nursing homes? Did they save lives? Did Mississippi officials give Sheperson a medal?

Nope. Instead, they locked him up -- and his generators, too.

"Nobody got any use out of them," said Sheperson.

After Katrina, Jim Hood, Mississippi's attorney general, launched a crusade against "price gouging." "For people to take advantage of those in need," he said, "violates every biblical standard of morals that I'm aware of."

The Bible does say, "Give to him that asketh," and if Sheperson had donated those 19 generators and had hauled them down to Mississippi as an act of charity, it would have been fine with Jim Hood. But the attorney general considers making a profit by selling to the desperate at so-called "gouging" prices immoral and illegal.

But making money isn't evil, it's good. Modern life is made possible by people working to make money. And making a profit by "taking advantage" of people in need by meeting their needs is even better.

Today we hear about "gouging" at the gas pump. But it's simple supply and demand. Those "greedy" oil companies don't search for oil and drill for it out of the kindness of their hearts. They do it to make money, just like John Sheperson. The hope of fat profits is what motivates them to take risks to find new sources of oil to meet our energy needs. If companies think the government will "cap" prices to keep profits "fair," they would have little incentive to take the risk. Continued...