Price controls are coming - Economics - Page 4 - City-Data Forum

jbgusa · 07-19-2021, 09:19 AM

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Originally Posted by mathjak107

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Originally Posted by lieqiang

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Originally Posted by Taggerung

Historically, when currency debasement gets out of control and prices/the cost of living skyrocket, the geniuses in government always have the same response; price controls, which always lead to shortages and black markets. How much higher will prices have to rise before the government steps in with price controls? What is your plan for dealing with shortages when the price controls inevitably do happen?

Free unicorns for the masses to ride around on are coming.

See how easy it is to do the Taggerung routine and make an open-ended prediction that can just sit out there forever since it can always happen ten years later? The only times you have provided dates, like saying consumption would never reach 2019 levels again, you ended up looking foolish.

As long as it reflects gloom is all that counts …the posts have become humorous at best …they don’t have to be true or make sense.

If even one person buys in to it then the mission is accomplished…

We should have a contest ..first person to find a positive post about anything wins

I'm not sure what you are looking for. Anyone who remembers 1971-4 price controls has little good to say. August 1971 to December 1972 were actually quite good; banana republic prosperity. Money was printed freely and inflation was held to a then-bearable 3.6%. The problem was that petroleum, lumber and other shortages built and prices literally exploded after the January 11, 1973 lifting of controls. The stock market hit a then-peak of 1051.70 that day, and intra-day had been hire. It was mostly downhill to a bear-market low, I think, in the 570's in October and December 1974. Price controls were reinstated on petroleum products in March 1973, with almost instantaneous spot shortages through early summer, and then utter chaos and gas lines from November 1973 through early March 1974. Phase IV controls were lifted in April 1974 and we suffered 12% inflation and a 12% prime rate through autumn 1974.

But if you're looking for something good, 1972 felt halcyon.

jiminnm · 07-19-2021, 09:56 AM

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Originally Posted by mathjak107

Price controls failed miserably back in the 1970S …it made things worse not better

Not only price controls, but also wage controls. Theoretically, no one was allowed to get a simple raise as there had to be a job or identified responsibility change. It took about 5 minutes to come up with several ways to avoid those controls. As with price controls, the wage controls failed.

terracore · 08-28-2021, 02:54 PM

We've had price controls for decades in the form of agriculture subsidies and food stamps. One promotes production and the other guarantees consumption.

When the price of wheat got too low, the government passed an ethanol mandate converting wheat fields to corn production.

And then there are excise taxes. When tobacco was too cheap to discourage consumption the government kept adding taxes until it worked.

And tax credits. When EVs were too expensive to gain acceptance, the government subsidized their purchase through tax credits. Now we have carbon credits.

Price controls are all around us, it's just that most people don't recognize them.