Ronald Reagan said in 1980 that wage and price controls had never worked, going back to Diocletian. Furthermore, he said, he was the only candidate who had known Diocletian personally!

Kevin, I agree with you on the point regarding the energy market lacking a proper level of competition, yet your point merely supports the underlying premise of the article, for the primary reason for the lack of “real” competition within the energy sector is due to too much government regulation and interference, mostly from the EPA who are egged on by environmental groups and lobbyists. Mr. DiLorenzo, I think you should expand on the notion of government interference in the overall economy, if you haven’t already, beyond price controls. For would you agree that even government policies and laws that also regulate how, when, where and to what extent production is done, causes the same amount of damage to the open market as limiting prices on goods and services?

Also, I certainly don’t recommend “windfall taxes” on oil companies, but the evidence does point to an energy market that lacks a proper level of competition.

On the other hand, showing that there were wage and price controls in antiquity and that their consequences were disasterous is a bit like shooting fish in a barrel and (even for a review) a waste of Austrian brainpower.

Far more important, from the point of view of general historical understanding is to show the primordial establishment of property rights in antiquity even (however surprisingly) in the ancient empires. The problem, from the point of view of catallactics, is that exchange was not yet based on monometalic standards. However this does not really affect the story going on with real property, cattle etc.

Documentation tends to be about market intervention rather than markets themselves. But even that is indirect evidence for property systems. To give an example where most people have ready access to the “ancient textual evidence”..at least in translation, there is the administration of Joseph when he was prime minister of Egypt. Joseph is a paragon of morality until he breaks into the upper etchelon of power, and he gets the idea of nationalizing the agricultural sector (which in ancient Egypt is pretty much everything). What is interesting is not that somebody would do such a thing, but that it was considered a novelty at the time. This popular story being one of a multitude of indications that there was a strong notion of “private domain” from the begining.

Instead of endless rehashings of (Karl) Polanyian and Wittfoglian ideas concerning the autocratic tendencies of ancient empires, might it not be better to look at them in light of the emerging Hoppian paradigm. The major point should be that private domains in antiquity were nestled within each other, and that in most places there was a definite system of recognized rights, although it had to maintain itself within the ebb and flow of centralization/decentralization (think feudalism). Some factors tended to skew towards autocracy (iron weapons, irrigation controls) but the underlying premise of society was private domains.

Hoppe changes Hegel’s historiography from
1) one is free (monarchy), 2) some are free (oligarchy), and finally 3) all are free (democracy), by pointing out the equivalency of all are free=all are slaves (of the demos). Perhaps we should rethink all the way back down the line.

Mark Sunwall

Maybe we can convince congress to impose a tax on the profits that the government has been making from their over taxing of gas and give it back to the people. However that would be inefficient and it would be best to just not have the tax there in the first place. However, we are actually talking about the congress so they would probably love a program like that. After all, as far as the government is concerned, it would appear the more inefficient the better. Fortunately in this instance no congressmen are informed or knowledgeable enough to read anything from mises.org. That is indeed unfortunate for the U.S. and the World in all other instances.

The “XOI” is an index that includes major oil companies such as BP, Exxon, Royal Dutch/Shell, Conoco, Sunoco, etc. Compare the oil index (the blue graph) to the S&P 500 index (the red graph) and you will see that over the last 20 years the oil index has not outperformed the SP by much (and I think there is a strong correlation between share price and profits, don’t you?). In fact, for 13 years prior to this year, oil stock price appreciation was BELOW the appreciation of the overall market. And so for a year of outperformance they need a windfall tax? Argh.

Your America is doing many things in the economic field which we found out caused us so much trouble. You are trying to control peoples’ wages and prices — peoples’ work. If you do that you must control peoples’ lives. And no country can do that part way. I tried and it failed. Nor can any country do it all the way either. I tried that too and it failed. You are no better planners than we. I should think your economists would read what happened here.

I’m going to send it to many of my friends and family who aren’t paying much attention, and to Bill O’Reilly.

Chuck George

Mr. Kelley, I agree. The kinds of people who make up a majority of those in power are now, and seem to always have been, those who cannot learn. They exercise power for the sake of power and then act surprised when things don’t work out as they said they would.

I believe there is indeed an answer: Do not grant anyone else the power to tell you what to do.

Unfortunately, for us, those in power perpetuate the myth of the “social contract”, or even more insidiously the “democratic” ideal that since I can vote I have somehow agreed to whatever the result is.

I note that the historical record cited has time and again the restrictions repealed only after the leaders are threatened with credible violence. Too bad discussing practical assassination is illegal, ne?

Regarding the article…keep up the good work. Alas, people just never learn. Another four thousand years?