Venezuela's socialist government has arrested more than 100 "bourgeois" businessmen in a crackdown on alleged price-gouging at hundreds of shops and companies since the weekend, President Nicolas Maduro said on Thursday.
"They are barbaric, these capitalist parasites!" Maduro thundered in the latest of his lengthy daily speeches. "We have more than 100 of the bourgeoisie behind bars at the moment."When prices start to soar, that's when governments get very aggressive.
That's why more than anything else (even the business cycle), I fear rapidly accelerating prices. With the right mad man in power, even here in the US, totalitarianism can expand very quickly.
(ht Travis Holte)
No difference in kind from what Christie and Cuomo were doing with their anti-"gouging" laws following Sandy, only a difference of degree — one that, as Robert indicates in this post, will disappear if price increases here become as dramatic as in Venezuela.
ReplyDeleteIt's rather sad that, after all these years and all the best efforts of men like Mises, Hayek and Rothbard, even the leaders of the political party that claims to stand for free market capitalism doesn't grasp the most basic and essential element thereof: Prices.
Great observation. Judas Christie sucks!
DeleteRemember what Nixon and Carter did with price controls.
ReplyDelete