Yikes. If the people in power are really smart though they’ll protect their constituents against greedy opportunists and fund the water transportation at cost. Maybe even paid for by taxpayers.
> If the people in power are really smart though they’ll protect their constituents
They have no incentive to do so. If they were actual human beings with functioning consciences maybe, but we often see people use the word "smart" to mean "ruthless asshole without a functioning moral compass". Those people assume everyone else would torture their own grandmother for an extra dollar just like they would, and so everyone who's not abusing the system to its fullest extent is just dumber than them. So in fact the people who are likely to be in power, who have absolutely no incentive to protect their constituents, will likely be in on the con as much as they can, and will actually call themselves "smart" for doing so.
Many US states actually have price gouging laws. In the US, during a natural disaster, many places deploy emergency personnel employed by the government (eg national guard) to pass out water and aid. I’d say the US ranks highly among developed nations as “politicians who are assholes due to bad incentives”.
Thankfully not everyone behaves like an economics textbook.
