Price controls

/

This article from PowerLine focuses on price controls and the economic illiteracy that produces it, but that ignorance is much more widespread than that: a huge portion of Americans support socialism, as reported by the Associated Press:

A Gallup poll conducted in September 2025, [after Mandami had been nominated but before his election] find sthat while U.S. adults overall are more likely to have a positive view of capitalism than socialism, Democrats feel differently. According to the survey, only 42% of Democrats view capitalism favorably, while 66% have a positive view of socialism.

That news reader Katy Tur, who I wrote about yesterday, is a college graduate (a philosophy major, no less, which embarrassed me, until I remembered that UC People’s Republic of Santa Monica is not realy going to teach anything of value), revealed over the weekend that she has never read the Declaration of Independence. Her ignorance is typical of her generation and the ones following (and, to be fair, my own generation as well) and bodes ill for the Republic.

BAD IDEAS NEVER DIE

John Hinderaker:

“Price controls are in the Hall of Fame of bad ideas. They have an unbroken record of failure, stretching back literally thousands of years. And yet, they remain alluring to people with no knowledge of either history or economics, or–probably more relevant–to failing governments.

“There was a time when Britain’s government was known for a certain level of financial sophistication. No longer:

[British Chancellor] Rachel Reeves is pressuring supermarkets to cap food prices in an attempt to limit inflation unleashed by the Iran war.

“The Iran war has nothing to do with it. The inflation rate on grocery prices in the U.K. is lower than in mid-2025, and the world has plenty of oil. A temporary disruption of a single channel of transportation will have no impact on gas prices beyond a couple of months:

“The proposal being floated by Keir Starmer’s government would cap prices on around 20 food items. The government is invoking the incoherent theory of “price gouging”:

Before the announcement, Ms Reeves unveiled plans to hand new powers to regulators to stop firms from price gouging during times of crisis.

This would include allowing the Competition and Markets Authority to name and shame companies that it believed to be raising prices more than necessary.

The Chancellor said on Wednesday that she would be willing to go further if needed, including potentially fining companies if they engaged in “exploitative pricing practices”.

“The ignorance on display is enough to make you want to cry. Or maybe to require a test of basic economic literacy as a qualification to serve in government. Or, better yet, to vote.

“Reeves’ proposal has gotten very bad reviews:

Helen Dickinson, the chief executive of the British Retail Consortium, a trade group, said price caps represent a return to the failed policies of the 1970s.

“The UK has the most affordable grocery prices in Western Europe thanks to the fierce competition between supermarkets,” she said.

“The challenge facing retailers is a combination of higher energy and commodity costs resulting from the Middle East conflict, and the soaring cost of the Government’s domestic policies.

“Rather than introduce 1970s-style price controls and trying to force retailers to sell goods at a loss, the Government must focus on how it will reduce the public policy costs which are pushing up food prices in the first place.”

“Britain’s suicidal “green” energy policies are an obvious culprit.”

Others have been blunter in assessing Reeves’ proposal:

The governor of the Bank of England has warned ministers against “artificially moving prices” after the Treasury held talks with supermarkets about freezing the cost of essential goods.

Andrew Bailey said price freezes were “not a sustainable thing”, while food producers and retail bosses described the proposals as “completely preposterous” and “embarrassing nonsense”.

“Well, they are. But the episode is a good reminder that even an advanced democracy is never more than one election away from horrifically incompetent policies.”

And a flash from the past: Nixon:


AI Overview

President Richard Nixon instituted sweeping wage and price controls on August 15, 1971, to combat escalating "stagflation". Known as Phase I of his New Economic Policy, the move temporarily froze most U.S. wages and prices for 90 days—marking the first time the government enacted such controls outside of wartime.

The Evolution of the Controls

The Nixon administration’s Economic Stabilization Program shifted through several phases:

UNT Digital Library 

  • Phase I (August - November 1971): A mandatory 90-day freeze on all wages, prices, and rents at levels no higher than those in the preceding 30 days.

  • Phase II (November 1971 - January 1973): The freeze was replaced by the Pay Board and Price Commission

    . These boards were established to set standards and approve allowable wage and price increases.

  • Phase III & IV (1973 - 1974): Controls became increasingly voluntary and sector-specific before eventually being phased out entirely by April 1974, as supply chain issues and energy crises made the system unmanageable.

Economic Impact

While initially popular and effective at temporarily halting inflation, the controls ultimately created widespread economic distortion:

  • Shortages: By fixing prices below market levels, the controls led to severe shortages across various sectors, ranging from steel to agriculture and eventually consumer energy.

  • Distortions: Artificially depressed prices forced farmers to destroy crops or livestock to avoid losses, which disrupted food supply chains.

  • Inflationary Rebound: Once the rigid controls were lifted, suppressed inflation surged back into the economy, compounded by the 1973 oil crisis.

Further historical context and economic analysis of these policies can be explored through the Federal Reserve History Essay or the PBS Commanding Heights breakdown.

  • Remembering Nixon's Wage and Price Controls | Cato Institute

    August 16, 2011 • Commentary. By Gene Healy. This article appeared in The DC Examiner on August 16, 2011. Remember “TARP,” “

    And from of all places, Politico (!)

  • When Richard Nixon Wrecked the Economy - POLITICO

    Initially, it was a political success; 73 percent of Americans applauded Nixon's imposition of wage and price controls, and for a ...

    [Read it all, if you’re curious — devestating]


As for addressing real problems, not a peep; The Hartford Looters chirp while their state burns

/

Sound, if not fury: a tale told by idiots

Massive fraud and corruption in our social/political welfare programs; some of the highest tax burdens and utility rates in the country; crumbling infrastructure; failing schools? Not to worry, the Legislature is on the job:

Connecticut names spring peeper as state amphibian, adds state rock

Gov. Ned Lamont signed legislation May 14 naming Pseudacris crucifer, otherwise known as the spring peeper, as the state amphibian.

The spring peeper now joins a menagerie of other official state animals — the American robin; European mantis; sperm whale; Eastern oyster; American shad and the Dilophosaurus, a theropod dinosaur that lived in what is now North America during the Early Jurassic period, about 186 million years ago.

The same legislation also designated Housatonic marble as the state rock.

Rogues Hill sale

/

379 Round Hill Road wouldn’t sell at $3.350 million in 2010, nor $3.790 - $2.980 from 2014 through 2017, but it was put back on the market this past February at $4.5 million, immediately found a buyer, and closed today at $4.685.

Just one acre in the four-acre zone, so there’s zero room to expand or do much of anything significant here. The listing shows an 1840 construction date, though the house doesn’t look a day older than 1963. All interior pictures have been stripped from the internet, not there was much to see.

New listing south of the Village

/

53 S Park Avenue, $3.895 million. It has an odd, almost-vertical layout that’s probably off-putting at first, but it works. Still, that design has not done any favors to previous owners: the original builder tried for $2.777 million in 2008, and close friends of mine were able to buy it for just $1.425 in 2009, steps ahead of the sheriff and his foreclosure papers. They, in turn, after making some extensive renovations, put it up for sale in 2017 for $2.850 million and finally sold it to the present owners for $2.1 million in 2020.

It’ll probably do better this time.

Idiocracy

/

We all know that media newsreaders are not selected on the basis of their knowledge or intelligence — in fact, those are disqualifying criteria — but this little snippet from one of them interviewing an “expert” may really represent a new low in what’s laughingly referred to as journalism.

MSNOW Host Katy Tur Displays Stunning Ignorance on the God Given Rights of Americans

In a recent clip that is getting a lot of play on Twitter/X, Katy Tur of MSNOW (formerly MSNBC), criticizes House Speaker Mike Johnson for saying that our rights as Americans come from God and not the government.

She actually follows this up by asking one of her guests if Johnson is ‘putting God over the Declaration of Independence.’

Has anyone at MSNOW actually read any of America’s founding documents? They’re pretty explicit on this issue.

Tim Graham of NewsBusters shared the clip and provided a transcript:

Katy Tur: What about this passage from Mike Johnson declaring that our rights do not derive from government? They come from you, our creator and heavenly father. Is this him putting God over the Declaration of Independence?

McKay Coppins: I actually think that that idea is not wholly uncommon. I mean, the idea that we have certain inalienable rights that come from god can be read in a fairly benign way, which is basically that we have innate human rights, that our constitution and our government, our democratic government are meant to codify. Right. That idea is not totally abnormal.

“The idea that we have certain inalienable rights that come from God can be read in a fairly benign way”. Really? Fairly benign? Benign? You complete, utter idiot; the King of England certainly didn’t think so, because the idea that human rights come from God, and not him, was literally revolutionary. How can you not know that?

“Putting God over the Declaration of Independence”? This twit pseudo-journalist has never even read the Declaration of Independence, so she never reached its second paragraph:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

Wow.

Sell in May and go away

/

48 North Ridge, Havemeyer, $3.395 million, is pending after 6 days. I wrote about it when it hit the market last week, noting that the owners were staying for just two years after pursuing it in a bidding war, paying $2.916 million for the privilege of moving in and now moving out.

Of course, I don’t know the circumstances behind this sale, and I suppose that, depending on how much over ask it’s selling for this time, some profit will be made, but on its face, it strikes me as a lot of effort and inconvenience for a limited gain.

If you don't have to move in a hurry, and you're confident in your price then sure, wait it out

/

After 252 days on the market at $8.750 million and without budging from that number, 10 Birch Lane has a contract. It’s great looking house, Birch Lane’s a good street in a very convenient distance from downtown, and price momentum has been in their favor. If you’ve attached a ridiculous price tag on your house against the advice of your agent, then yes: drop it, and do so quickly. But Joe Barbieri’s the agent here, and if he thought the price was right, well, he can be wrong, like all of us, but he’s usually right.

Or look at it this way, and compare what’s out there — would you rather pay $7.750 to live on Pintail, or bump it up a mere million and live on Birch?

This is what short-term summer rentals used to command, now it's the going price for long term? Wow.

/

17 Nawthorne Drive, Old Greenwich, was purchased in September 2023 for $7.075 million (on an ask of $8.5) and has been rented out since. In 2024, the new landlord tried for a $23,000 monthly rent and settled for $18,000. This time, he went for $25,000 and it’s been posted as rented for $29,500. I literally had to check the MLS to make certain that wasn’t a summer rental price, for which renters pay a premium for. It’s a great street, and great house, but I guess I haven’t been following rents very much; they seem to have been following right along with sale prices into the stratosphere, which makes sense, but is still shocking — to me.