Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

We have a powerful weapon to fight inflation: price controls. It’s time we consider it
https://www.theguardian.com ^ | 29 Dec 2021 | Isabella Weber

Posted on 12/30/2021 12:51:39 PM PST by RomanSoldier19

We used strategic price controls after inflation sky-rocketed after the second world war. There’s a strong case for doing so again now;

nflation is near a 40-year high. Central banks around the world just promised to intervene. However, a critical factor that is driving up prices remains largely overlooked: an explosion in profits. In 2021, US non-financial profit margins have reached levels not seen since the aftermath of the second world war. This is no coincidence. The end of the war required a sudden restructuring of production which created bottlenecks similar to those caused by the pandemic. Then and now large corporations with market power have used supply problems as an opportunity to increase prices and scoop windfall profits. The Federal Reserve has taken a hawkish turn this month. But cutting monetary stimulus will not fix supply chains. What we need instead is a serious conversation about strategic price controls – just like after the war.

Today economists are divided into two camps on the inflation question: team Transitory argues we ought not to worry about inflation since it will soon go away. Team Stagflation urges for fiscal restraint and a raise in interest rates. But there is a third option: the government could target the specific prices that drive inflation instead of moving to austerity which risks a recession.

To use a metaphor: if your house is on fire, you would not want to wait until the fire eventually dies out. Neither do you wish to destroy the house by flooding it. A skillful firefighter extinguishes the fire where it is burning to prevent contagion and save the house. History teaches us that such a targeted approach is also possible for price increases.

(Excerpt) Read more at theguardian.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: bidenvoters; communism; economy; inflation; pricecontrols
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-6061-80 ... 141-144 next last

1 posted on 12/30/2021 12:51:39 PM PST by RomanSoldier19
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: RomanSoldier19

...these morons never learn...price controls have never worked...if they did, why not do it all the time...


2 posted on 12/30/2021 12:53:28 PM PST by DHerion
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: DHerion

Oh God, No. I have been predicting this.


3 posted on 12/30/2021 12:54:04 PM PST by MustKnowHistory
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: RomanSoldier19
We have a powerful weapon to fight inflation: price controls. It’s time we consider it


4 posted on 12/30/2021 12:54:46 PM PST by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either opinion, or satire. Or both.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: RomanSoldier19

Plus there is a big difference between fighting a fire and fighting inflation.

When you start talking about putting a fire out, the flames don’t react.

People react.


5 posted on 12/30/2021 12:55:09 PM PST by DannyTN
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: RomanSoldier19

Reply..

Just as the photo shows, that is the result.

There is a solution. Do away with all the politicians and soon the problem will resolve.


6 posted on 12/30/2021 12:55:18 PM PST by crz
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: RomanSoldier19
Ugh ... Another Moron with a Degree, spewing.

They sure worked real well under Nixon. (Sarcasm On)

7 posted on 12/30/2021 12:55:30 PM PST by fedupjohn (Waiting for Trump's new Caribbean Resort "Club Gitmo" to open for business! )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: DHerion

Ted Kennedy advocated for them at the same stage of inflation. He lost to Carter and shut up about it. Same old libs.


8 posted on 12/30/2021 12:55:47 PM PST by Luke21
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: RomanSoldier19

Price Controls - which have failed all the way back to the days of the Roman Emperor Diocletian.


9 posted on 12/30/2021 12:55:57 PM PST by Reily
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: DHerion

Instead of post-WWII, why not recall Nixon’s price controls? They failed.


10 posted on 12/30/2021 12:56:04 PM PST by Dr. Sivana ("There are only men and women."-- George Gilder, Sexual Suicide, 1973)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: DHerion

Yeah...price controls worked out so great back when Nixon implemented them. Good grief are we surrounded by idiots?


11 posted on 12/30/2021 12:56:36 PM PST by Autonomous User (During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: RomanSoldier19

“Isabella Weber is an assistant professor of economics at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and the author of How China Escaped Shock Therapy”

https://www.routledge.com/How-China-Escaped-Shock-Therapy-The-Market-Reform-Debate/Weber/p/book/9781032008493

Nuff said.


12 posted on 12/30/2021 12:56:44 PM PST by mewzilla (Those aren't masks. They're muzzles. )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: fedupjohn
Why not bring back "WIN" buttons, while we're at it?


13 posted on 12/30/2021 12:57:07 PM PST by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: RomanSoldier19

awww.. socialism .. ain’t it grand!!??

always.. ALWAYS goes the same way

they spend spend spend until they run out of OTHER peoples money, then inflation skyrockets.. then price controls... then a crack-down on businesses along with threats of jail, then government takes over industries, then PRESTO !!! communism !


14 posted on 12/30/2021 12:57:19 PM PST by TexasFreeper2009
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: BenLurkin

15 posted on 12/30/2021 12:57:30 PM PST by RomanSoldier19 (Res ad Triarios venit)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: RomanSoldier19

Here is an idea to consider: the government only spends what it can afford.


16 posted on 12/30/2021 12:57:48 PM PST by Petrosius
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: RomanSoldier19
The author is a professor of economics. Wherever she got her "education" she should ask for her money back.
17 posted on 12/30/2021 12:57:48 PM PST by precisionshootist
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: RomanSoldier19
OH.

GOOD.

GOD.


18 posted on 12/30/2021 12:57:54 PM PST by rlmorel (Nothing can foster principles of freedom more effectively than the imposition of tyranny.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: BenLurkin

And the producers, having made their money, padlock the door after the last employee goes home, moves to their homes on the golf course, beach or mountains and that’s that


19 posted on 12/30/2021 12:58:09 PM PST by qaz123
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: Autonomous User

Well, idiots and evil.

Deep State hires the idiots to hide behind while doing their evil.


20 posted on 12/30/2021 12:58:11 PM PST by mewzilla (Those aren't masks. They're muzzles. )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-6061-80 ... 141-144 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson