PRICE CONTROL IN RECENT HISTORY
July 14, 2022 -Durt Fibo

As World War II shattered the global system, the United States created the Office of Price Administration in 1941. Established by President F. D. Roosevelt’s executive order, the OPA served as a unified inflation counterstrike force and was openly dedicated to the prevention of profiteering. By 1942, approximately 90% of the commodities in America were under OPA price caps. In 1950, President Harry Truman, with the consent of Congress, attacked Korean-War related inflation by restoring price controls. In 1962, President Kennedy instituted the Wage and Price Guideposts, instigated and heavily pursued by his Council of Economic Advisers (which still exists as a government agency today, within the Executive Office of the President). In 1971, President Richard Nixon fought ‘peacetime inflation’ with his Economic Stabilization Program of 1971-1974, also put forth by the CEA. No American today should be asking themselves what can be done to reign in runaway prices.