The appeal of price controls

Yes, we all know it's stupid policy and ultimately will create massive shortages, more government power and general poverty. But Kamala Harris is proposing it and there are political realities that we really need to think about.

Price controls come about politically because they are popular. People like getting stuff for less. In the short term, it makes people happy. They get something that they've been buying without the inflation. Sure, there will be less producers and deep government intervention and eventually scarcity of the product as they go into black markets if at all. But in the short term, when the producers haven't adjusted yet, the stuff looks like it's free and it helps the politician that imposed it.

The last guy to do price controls on food was Richard Nixon, and he had to do it because he suspended dollar convertibility. He had an election to win in 1972, so he implemented price controls. And guess what? He won in a landslide, because he mitigated the effects of the abandonment of the gold standard through price controls.

Long term, the price controls were a complete disaster. Theere were long lines at the gas stations, inflation went into hyperdrive and the productivity of the 70's was completely lost to stagflation. But it got him the election.

So while Kamala's political positions look stupid from the Bitcoiner point of view, don't underestimate its appeal to normies that don't understand economics. It's not as terrible a move as it seems.