Chris Christie Is a Hardcore Statist Control Freak

Character is best revealed in times of stress. The storm has revealed New Jersey Governor Chris Christie to be a mean, nasty, statist, control freak. His latest stunt is persecution of business owners who had the temerity to charge the prices they felt like charging for the goods they own. He calls this “price gouging,” an imaginary crime that cannot be rationally defined. Christie is aggressively cracking down on price gougers. As LRC readers know, price “gouging,” which I take it means increasing prices during times of scarcity and high demand, is exactly what we need to allow those who most urgently need gas to get it and to provide an incentive for firms to increase supplies. Price controls create shortages and dissuade suppliers from bringing goods to market. They are poison to any economy. That Christie is an icon of the GOP illustrates the sad state of that party.

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5:11 pm on November 2, 2012