Price Controls Are Exacerbating the Damage of Hurricane Sandy

Townhall.com ^ | November 7, 2012 | Daniel J. Mitchell

[Kaslin]

Price controls are a spectacularly foolish idea, and that’s true whether they’re imposed by thugs such as Hugo Chavez in Venezuela or bureaucrats at the Department of Health and Human Services.

That’s why one of the 20th Century’s economic heroes is Ludwig Erhard, who unleashed the post-war German miracle by abolishing the price controls imposed by the allied powers.

Notwithstanding all this history, politicians oftentimes can’t resist doing the wrong thing, as you can see from this new Reason TV video.Gas Lines, Gouging, and Hurricane Sandy: Keeping Prices Low Means Nobody Gets Fuel

A simple explanation for the stupidity of politicians is that there are more consumers than gas station owners. But I also think this is an example of their illiteracy about what Bastiat referred to as the seen and the unseen.

I hope you’re familiar with Reason TV, by the way. If not, you should peruse the great work they do. Some of my favorites include:

• Featuring Andrew Ferguson on the parasite economy of Washington, DC.
• Contemplating the absurdity of anti-obesity campaigns from the compulsive big spenders in government.
• Exploring the evil of Communism.
• The fight to break up the failed government school monopoly, over the objection of a teacher unions and a morally corrupt “civil rights” establishment.
• A much-needed victory over tyrannical thugs at the Environmental Protection Agency.
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• A case study showing why the so-called stimulus was a wasteful failure.
• The despicable impact of urban renewal.
• Victory over revenue cameras installed by greedy local governments.
• Singing about the brutal War on Drugs.
• Why statists hate the idea of private money.
• High-speed rail and other boondoggles.
• The inspirational life of Walter Williams.
• Hillary Clinton’s economic illiteracy.
• On pilgrims and property rights.
• Richard Epstein discusses his former colleague, Barack Obama.
• How Obama resuscitated libertarianism.
• A silver lining from Hurricane Katrina.
• The filming of Atlas Shrugged.
• Why the Terminator failed as Governor.

And if you enjoy humor, here are some more great videos from Reason TV:

• Mocking Ms. Fluke, the 30-year old upper-middle-class student who wants the rest of us to subsidize her birth control.
• Merry Christmas from the Transportation Security Administration.
• Fun with the TSA the other 364 days of the year.
• A touching farewell to the 100-watt light bulb.
• A nanny-of-the-month contest.

Feel free to share these examples with friends and colleagues.

[Red Badger]

Price controls are the first weapon of choice for socialists.....

[aberaussie]

Bttt

[sickoflibs]

I nailed this one first here guys:
Would rising prices(if legal)work better than state controlled Rationing in NJ after this hurricane?( November 03, 2012 · by sickoflibs) ·

One or two actually argued for the price controls on the thread.

[Oldexpat]

Maybe if there weren’t price controls on gas the stations and terminals would spend the money to install standby generators to keep them pumping. The same with grocery stores. Instead of throwing away food..they could be in business if they weren’t flooded.
It’s funny, but developing countries with power problems have more standby generators and handle this type of power failure daily. If you don’t have standby power you can’t be in business.
It would probably only cost 30-50k to install standby at gas stations..

[sickoflibs]

RE :”Maybe if there weren’t price controls on gas the stations and terminals would spend the money to install standby generators to keep them pumping. The same with grocery stores. Instead of throwing away food..they could be in business if they weren’t flooded.”

This was exactly my point. If the gubment is going to procecute you for raising prices when the demand-supply relationship is totally shifted to demand then why take on the risk and investment of generators? Just sit it out. Alternatively with no price controls you would see the stations and stores all investing in generators to get the one up.

And if you do have electric with price controls then use the gas to barter for goods, and sell it to friends and family first.

One lib here told me he wants the feds to drive in convoys of tankers with gasoline to NJ, typical. Doesnt he know Os cameo is over there and he wants them to switch to battery cars?

[bert]

You didn’t vote, you pretended to vote for a pretend candidate

There were two actual candidates, Goode wasn’t one of them

[sickoflibs]

RE :”You didn’t vote, you pretended to vote for a pretend candidate There were two actual candidates, Goode wasn’t one of them”

Are you sure you posted this on the correct thread? This title says :”Price controls....”

Who is Goode?

[TurboZamboni]

any jersians who can confirm the rule I heard on the radio-
is it true if you raise the price 10% or more within 30 days (before or after a disaster) you can be charged with “price gouging” ?