I think I agree on this one... raising the price could happen here too.
I do not agree. That which many call price gouging is the way the market works to get supply to an area of higher need for a product.
When the hurricane is coming, or the day after it arrived, generators should be priced what the market will allow. Demand quadruples or increases by a thousand times in that location. If the price doubles, that allows a small operator to rent a truck, drive to another state and bring back a truckload of generators. Generators that would not be there the next day if prices stayed the same. Generators that are badly needed by those who did not prepare in advance.
You want a standard priced generator, buy it before you need it. You want a generator after the emergency is already here, pay the inflated price.
If prices do not rise, extra supply does not arrive.
I would rather buy a double priced generator than not be able to buy any regular priced generator because they already sold out.
Plywood, sheetrock, germ masks, whatever. Let the market work it out. Anti-gouging laws always end up with people needing products that they cannot get when they need them.
Quit asking the government to solve your lack of planning and preparedness.