There is nothing mysterious about this. Shortages usually cause rising prices and rising profits. These rising profits then attract the investments which end the shortage. Prices are not arbitrary things. They convey a reality that is not going to be changed by price controls, whether state or federal.
Prices are like readings on a thermometer.
When someone is suffering from a fever, you can always lower the reading by putting the thermometer in ice water. The enormous costs of the current political charade in California are ultimately going to be paid for by Californians in many ways for many years ahead. Certainly not our Michigan retiree or others like him across the country. Thomas Sowell is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, Stanford, Calif. 94305 and writes for Creators Syndicate. His column is published on Sunday.