It's comforting to imagine that a terrible idea will be tossed into the dustbin of history after it proves to be terrible. Unfortunately, the willingness of many Americans to embrace price controls as a solution to inflation proves that this is not the case.

Inflation is It's gotten noticeably cooler lately.But many Americans still see it as a direct threat to their finances. Only 24% of Americans feel their income is keeping up with inflation. According to recent opinion polls. The same poll also found that more Americans see inflation as the most important problem facing the country than any other issue.

Unfortunately, taxpayers facing frustratingly persistent and serious fiscal problems are often susceptible to sensational promises of silver bullets. A favorite empty promise among progressives and followers of socialism is that the solution to inflation is price controls.

After all, if prices are going up too much, why not just tell companies to stop raising prices too much? In fact, the same poll found that 66 percent of Americans tend to agree that price controls are an effective means of combating inflation.

The problem is that this supports the inflation thesis of politicians like Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren. Claim Inflation occurs because greedy companies raise the price of goods beyond their value. If that is indeed the main reason for inflation, price controls would be a logical means to solve it.

But that explanation of inflation does not stand up to scrutiny. If inflation occurs because corporations are greedy, why isn't there runaway inflation? Businesses exist to make money.

But while the “corporate greed” narrative has dominated the debate about inflation, a more sober analysis reveals that this is not the relevant cause. Proponents of this explanation have touted high corporate profits during the pandemic as supporting their argument. Research by the Federal Reserve Board They found that these increases in corporate profits were driven by large amounts of government funding to support businesses and monetary policy that kept interest rates very low.

In the early days, this intentional policy This is because, given the unique nature of the crisis brought about by the pandemic, any means-testing or targeting of aid will inevitably result in some companies going bankrupt. In this crisis, when governments forced businesses to close and send employees home, there was no time to be on a dime.

But as the pandemic continues and large parts of the economy return to near normality, the justification for keeping the firehose of government aid flowing has become much weaker. Nevertheless, Democrats in Congress pushed the bill through. $3 trillion American Rescue Plan Act and tried to do the same thing again $3.5 trillion “Build Back Better Act”.

This brings everything back to price control. Since “corporate greed” had nothing to do with inflation, price controls would have done what they always have. That is, pushing the price below the level at which it is worth selling the product for the company. there will be a shortage.

A recent poll of economists conducted by the University of Chicago found that Only 23% agreed with this statement “Price controls put in place in the 1970s will do a good job of reducing U.S. inflation over the next 12 months.” Businesses that universally agreed that the result, that is, shortages far outweigh inflation, were Added warning that it is harmful.

Unfortunately, two-thirds of Americans continue to actively support this widely discredited and dangerous idea. Price controls target mere symptoms of inflation, never the cause of it.

Andrew Wilford is director of the Interstate Commerce Initiative at the National Taxpayers Union Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to research and education on tax policy at all levels of government.

The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of The Daily Caller.