Price controls are a spectacularly foolish idea, and that’s true whether they’re imposed by thugs such as Hugo Chavez in Venezuela or bureaucrats at the Department of Health and Human Services. That’s why one of the 20th Century’s economic heroes is Ludwig Erhard, who unleashed the post-war German miracle by abolishing the price controls imposed […]

Florida Senator Bill Nelson is seizing on the BP oil spill as an excuse to pass federal “price gouging” legislation.  It’s certainly nothing new to see anti-market politicians stirring up populist rage with these so-called “price gouging” laws.  Many states already have them on the books, and politicians are quick to warn greedy capitalists against […]