Quote:
Originally Posted by Honda
In the 70's things were not as expensive as it is now with relative to salaries. Unfortunately, prices have got to insane levels but salaries didn't catchup with that.
This is where the government should step in and control. Unfortunately that will never happen in U.S
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I'm going to assume you're a youngster?
History 101: Price controls don’t work
President Richard M. Nixon imposed wage and price controls on Aug. 15, 1971. Oil and gas were two of many commodities affected. An initial 90-day freeze turned into more than 1,000 days before the controls were dismantled. Inflation — just above 4 percent in 1971 — was in double digits when the controls were lifted.
Nixon kept the wage-and-price controls on oil, gasoline and petroleum products in place, as did Presidents Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter. The results were disastrous. Oil exploration and domestic oil production slowed sharply. And foreign oil poured into the nation’s gas tanks, filling the booming demand for price-controlled gas.
Thanks to this misguided policy, gasoline lines snaked along highways for hours during oil crises in the mid- and late-1970s. Stations ran out of gasoline and laws told consumers which days they could purchase gas. A windfall-profits tax compounded all the negative effects, and the shortages lasted until President Ronald Reagan repealed controls in 1981. The price of a gallon of gas at the pump fell by a third over five years.
Drawing on experiences of the 1970s, the FTC concluded that price controls meant “gasoline shortages could result,” leaving consumers worse off.
The history lesson for this Congress could not be clearer. Price controls could create shortages and leave our economy dangerously exposed to disruptions in supply. In the 1970s, we were the only nation on Earth to have gas lines. Why would anyone ever want to go back to that?
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2007/...ols-dont-work/