Behold, the dumbest idea you’ve heard about in a long time:

Del. Ward Armstrong, D-Henry County, recognizes that commodities travel great distances to fill shelves and tanks. Far-flung disasters affect the commonwealth. He therefore proposes expanding the law to apply when disasters anywhere affect supplies here. It is an obvious change that reflects the modern marketplace.

He also would give investigators the authority to look further up the supply chain. If a big oil company price-gouges distributors, drivers feel the pain.

That change, too, makes sense, with one addendum proposed by Attorney General Bob McDonnell. It should apply not just to oil companies but to all essential commodities. If Midwest farmers artificially inflate the price of corn after a few tornadoes, then Virginians should be able to ferret out that abuse and punish it.

Prices spiking during natural disasters is a given.  If an agricultural area sees a bad storm cycle, prices are going to go up so that producers can recoup their costs and turn a profit so that they can keep producing in the future.  If Virginia tries to outlaw those sort of price shifts (which they’re calling “price gouging") the result isn’t going to be lower prices for Virginians.  The result is going to be shortages and outages at supermarkets and gas stations.

Because why should the producers of commodities like food and gasoline sell their product in markets where they aren’t allowed to turn a profit under anything but optimal market conditions?

If Virginia politicians really wanted to give Virginians some financial relief they could just cut taxes.  Particularly those taxes levied on commodities like gasoline.