I do actually agree with this criticism.
> There's no profit today in maintaining capability to handle a disruption in a socially beneficial way, so they specialize for their hothouse environment. Heck, if some apologists for price-gouging had their way, such a firm could even profit handsomely from a crisis they failed to prepare for.
So here's an interesting question: if charging extra for items in high-demand during a crisis (price-gouging) were legal, would there be enough?
Consider that housing inventory can be a cost, and that for many companies controlling costs is a necessary step if they want to stay in business. They might even want to have some excess inventory to handle shocks in demand. But if they can't charge more for selling goods that are in their reserve inventory, then they won't be able to cover the costs of holding onto that inventory for so long.
Those costs exist, and society has to pay them, even when the government is the one holding the reserves. Now, if we don't want consumers to have to pay the extra cost during a crisis (which is fair, because many people might have lost their jobs) we could just have the government step in and pay the difference.
It may seem like it would be rewarding price-gouging, but all it would be doing would be to delay government paying the cost to warehouse reserves.
What's more, is that the government would only be paying for those reserve goods that it would actually need. There are an endless number of goods that could possibly be needed in a disaster; stocking up on them all would be untenable. Allowing corporations to do most of that work would drastically reduce the burden on the government (and the average citizen).
Lastly, even when government's prepare, they don' know all of what those needs might be (again, the example of Switzerland not stocking up enough of masks).
NOTE: I am not saying I am OK with people price-gouging for goods already on the market. I'm just talking through a situation where a legal change might allow corporations to have better incentives with regard to disaster preparedness and redress the flaw we both see in the current system.