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FEW THINGS IN AMERICA TODAY can win broad bipartisan support: Dolly Parton (may her memory be a blessing), interspecies friendships, and data-center bans are among them.
And now comes another addition to that list: a hankering for Big Daddy government to set prices in the private market.
A recent CBS News/YouGov poll found that nearly two-thirds of Americans would like the government to pass price controls, defined as “laws that limit the amount that companies can raise prices, or charge for products and services.” Even a majority of Republicans (54 percent) favor the idea.
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This should be astonishing. I say “should be” because we have seen, many times over, how well centralized pricing has worked out in the Soviet Union, or Zimbabwe, Argentina, or the United States in the 1970s.¹ Again and again, price controls have resulted in shortages and black markets. But memories are short, Americans are (largely) economically illiterate, and opportunistic politicians are keen to capitalize on both deficiencies.
Indeed, both Republicans like President Donald Trump and Democrats like Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) have championed government-established limits on prices as a magic bullet for making Americans’ lives better.
There is zero historical or economic analysis to support their contention that this would make things better. But who needs evidence when you have public opinion?
In fact, I have heard directly from political strategists who
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