Once again, we have a politician running for president who thinks she knows more about economics than any person with half a brain knows; YOU CAN NOT CONTROL PRICES UNLESS YOU WANT TO DESTROY A COUNTRY! It was tried 50 years ago, and it didn’t work then, and it won’t work now.
Back in the early 70s, America was amid an inflationary trend. Because of the Vietnam War and President Johnson’s Great Society Program, the government was spending money it did not have. So what was that all politicians think of first? Of course, raise taxes! Of course when you raise taxes you suck more money out of the economy, therefore people have less money to pay things they need and want. The answer to that is that workers demand that employees give them raises in pay.
If companies give their workers more money, they have to raise prices. Then, the prices of goods the workers want to buy increase. The workers want more money, and the prices continue to go up. Doesn’t this sound like what is going on today?
Now, what happened then and what is happening now have one common denominator, and it is called energy prices. In the 1970s, the Arabs decided to cut off the supply of oil to America. This resulted in shortages of gas, diesel, and other fossil fuels. This resulted in rationing and price increases that were passed along to the consumer in the price of food, clothing, housing, etc. Once again, does this sound familiar?
In all fairness, some of the underlying conditions are slightly different. In place of Vietnam, we have had continuing wars for close to 20 years. In the place of the Great Society, we had the China Virus. But in all cases, the common factor is overspending by the government.
The conclusion that must be reached is that price controls didn’t work then and will not work now. I believe that the easiest way to look at this is a quote linked to Albert Einstein. Whether he said it or not makes no matter right now, it definitely describes the situation we now face.
“The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.”