The Tribune

By RICK LOWE

Nassau Institute

It makes for headlines in the press when a Price Control bureaucrat “super hero with coercive power” sweeps in on a business and accuses them of breaking a law that is unenforceable.

Oh sure, they can fine you for some paperwork error, or not having a list available etc, but they do not keep prices down.

Just compare the price for a gallon of milk today to five years ago. Compare the price of a pound of cheese today to the same cheese five years ago.

In each case, prices have risen exponentially and these are so-called price controlled items. In a nutshell, the only thing price control does is force the foodstore to increase prices on items that the Government does not restrict mark-ups on, so prices are not based on competition in the marketplace.

The other thing it can cause is shortages, as in the ‘great’ countries in the region that have price control legislation - Venezuela and Cuba. Such wonderful examples to follow.

Instead of the Government implementing policies to encourage business and competition, they make it harder for businesses to survive. And, of course, without a thriving economy, there are fewer taxes to keep the wheels of government churning because jobs are lost and fewer new ones created.

So sad.

Price control policies cannot keep prices here in check, if for no other reason than we import our consumables (and everything else, including dumb public policies such as price control) so it is, in reality, a useless law.

Yet, with all the evidence to the contrary, the recently re-installed Price Control Commission (PCC) chairman, E. J. Bowe, tells the Nassau Guardian: “I have a strong feeling [price control measures] will increase. I think they will have to be expanded because there are other items that I think should be under price control.”

Mr Bowe apprently also indicated that “the Commission would likely reassess price control measures for goods beyond foodstuffs, including new and pre-owned vehicles”.

Surely the PCC chairman knows that new and used vehicles, and parts, already fall under his price control regime?

There you have it, folks. The PCC chairman “thinks” more items should be controlled. No determination if the policy is actually useful or not. Because he “thinks it”, so it shall be!

Of course, he does not think the tax burden is too high and government spending should be controlled.

At the end of the day, the PCC is like the cartoon image of Bureaucrat Man. Sweeping in to save the day and consumers from high prices. Making the fallacy of price controls almost believable because of the press coverage. Yet the tax percentage charged by the Government on many, if not most, imported items is more than the percentage mark-up by the foodstores and other businesses that sell price controlled goods.

One day consumers will wise up to the game being played with their emotions by the Government and the price control regime.