Wage and price controls

Wage and price controls are limits imposed by government on how much businesses can raise the prices of their goods sold, and much they can raise the wages they pay to workers. These controls are imposed in a misguided attempt to control inflation.

In the 20th century wage and price controls were imposed during World War II and by President Richard Nixon in 1971. The failure of President Harry Truman to lift the controls quickly after the end of World War II led to the Republican landslide in the midterm elections of 1946. Nixon's imposition of the controls led to the founding of the Libertarian Party and other disillusionment with him.

Socialist countries impose draconian wage and price controls on their economies, and accordingly reap the penalties such as perennial shortages and occasional famines. No democratic country (with a free market economy) has ever had a famine.