by Robert Wenzel for Economic Policy Journal  JANUARY 10, 2012

Things have changed so dramatically in the last 6 to 12 months that I now believe you are being irresponsible ,no matter who you are, if you do not have a bagged packed and are ready to move at a moments notice.

Folks, we are surrounded. It’s no longer the TSA harassing us at airports. It is the TSA showing up announced at a social security office. It is the TSA and unknown black clad government agents showing up at subway and train stations.

As I said, we are surrounded, and still that doesn’t mean much in and of itself, other than the minor harassment, but here’s how things could get bad very fast.

Serious price inflation could be only months away. It is very possible that this could result in the President putting price controls in effect at some point. Every person , who knows the first thing about price controls, knows they don’t work and only result in shortages, still presidents reach for them.

I fear price controls in a period when we are surrounded with all sorts of enforcement personnel tired of playing enforcement and looking for real enforcement. Unlike, during Nixon’s price controls when there were no enforcement patrols, the enforcement teams are already in place.

What could this mean? If the price inflation is high enough and the price controls tight enough, shortages could quickly develop across the country, but unlike the controls during the Nixon era, you have a built in DHS bureaucracy that will want to see the controls maintained, so they can show how necessary they are, just like we have now with the Drug Enforcement Agency.

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