The Coolidge examiner., 1945-06-15
Today and Tomorrow
BY Don Robertson
DRICEC c

fhiS@S SS'h'~ ~
There is only one reason why We
are not paying skyrocket prices for
practically everything We buy to-
day. That reason is government
price regulation.
If it weren't for price ceilings,
there would be nothing to stop the
price of meat, gasoline, sugar and
every other scarce item from soar
ing TO heights out of reach of all
but the richest people in the coun-
try.
So long as the supply of goods Is
less than the demand for them, we
must have price regulation. Yet
there are apparently millions of
people, fed up with rationing and
ceilings, who would vote in favor of
total elimination of the Office of
Price administration.
There may have been some
major mistake made by that
government agency. Rationing
of some items may have been
handled cIumsily. In some cases
there may have been more
regulation than necessary. In
other cases price ceilings may
have been set too low to en-
courage maximum distribution
of the available supply. But
there is no doubt that we would
be in the midst of a period of
uncontrolled initiation right now
if it weren't for OPA.
What would that mean? Well, we
don't know whether sugar would
sell for 81 or $40 pound, but there
is no doubt that uncontrolled in
flation at the present time would
make the black market look like a
bargain sale.
CARS 1912
Price control as a government
function won't be eliminated for all
products at the same time. The
probable method will be to keep
each product under control until the
production of that product has
reached a point where supply is
equal to demand. And for some
products that time is still a long
way off.
Take automobiles, for instance.
BY the end of 1945, if all goes well,
a few new cars will have been re-
leased. But there is a potential de-
mand for perhaps 100000 new
automobiles. 1t is obvious that if
the first 100000 or 100000 cars
were sold without price regulation,
people who could afford it would
be willing to pay fabulous prices
for them. Without price control, a
car which sold for $1,000 in 1941,
could easily sell for $4,000 if we re-
lied entirely on the laws of supply
and demand.
But the OPA, by price regulation,
intends to keep the price of these
new cars in the neighborhood of
1912 prices. The prices will be
slightly higher, to allow for in
creased production costs. but in
creases will be closely controlled.
Thus, even the first group to get
new cars will pay price for them
which is in line with the price
which would be paid if competition
and supply was at its height.
Even if the Japanese war should
end this year, price control will be
carried on for the first year of two
of the postwar era. Whether we
like it or not, it will probably be at
least 1947 before we can throw our
ration points out of the window, buy
anything we want when we want
it, and pay prices which are set by
competitive selling instead of by
Uncle Sam.
CONTROL initiation
Black market prices are a fairly
accurate guide to the price trends
which would exist without price
control For a black market ac
tually is an outlet which is operat
ing without price control.
But a black market does not
ordinarily oct as high prices as