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ALPERN AT LARGE - When I read that Vice-President and presumed 2024 Democratic Party presidential candidate Kamala Harris decided to appropriate former President and 2024 Republican Party presidential candidate Donald Trump’s no-taxes-on-tips promise, I was intrigued.
Then came Vice President Harris’s promise to appropriate former President Richard Nixon’s program of price controls from the 1970’s, and then I was REALLY intrigued.
Because whether Richard Nixon, a Republican, or Kamala Harris, a Democrat, or anyone else throughout history has imposed price controls it always results in a horrible epic failure.
And when major and rather liberal newspapers like the New York Times and Washington Post start opining against these price controls, it’s quite clear why Vice President Harris hasn’t been too open to press conferences or elaborations of her economic policies.
It’s anyone’s guess whether the “Politics of Joy” will apply to those middle-class Americans whose cost of living bills are going sky-high during the Biden/Harris “Talk to the Hand” Administration, but there are plenty of wealthy and/or economically-uneducated and/or “history is bleagh” Americans who will probably shrug their shoulders at price controls.
But then it got me wondering...
What sort of price controls would I want to see?
I’m a-guessing they wouldn’t be too similar to what Vice President Harris is promoting for our supermarkets, and I’m a-guessing they wouldn’t be too popular with Vice President’s fan base, but…hey, free speech ain’t dead (yet), right?
So here we go:
1) I want price controls of monthly payments for all federal, state, county, and city public sector retirees tied to the average monthly Social Security payment to private sector American retirees.
After all, we’re in this together, and if Social Security deductible donations for private sector workers are prevented for any private investments (like safe bond, money market and stock index mutual funds) like public sector worker deductible donations, why should one group live well, retire early and wealthy, and thrive while the rest of us work until we drop dead?
2) I want price controls of our property taxes. They keep going up, up, and up, and the majority of those who vote for them going up are often those who don’t pay property taxes. That doesn’t sound very fair!
3) I want price controls on the costs of public sector university (University of California, California State University) system schools. The cost of tuition, room, and board, can be up $45,000 or more per year. That’s just unsustainable, and prohibitive to anyone who wants to achieve a higher education after high school. And if there are price controls, then we don’t have to bandy about the need to “forgive school loans”.
4) I want price controls on how much we pay for a homeless person. Rather than give them $750 or more per month, and lots of free benefits, and we pay up to $400,000 or more per unit of housing (nice deal for the lobbyist-connected contractors), let’s make it more sustainable.
With homeless individuals directed towards where their monthly stipends can make the biggest difference. That means the homeless do NOT have to all live by the beach, and that also means that homeless individuals with no ties to California will get NOTHING save a police-escorted and taxpayer-funded one-way ticket out of this state.
5) Finally, I want price controls on energy and utility bills…but for EVERYONE. If “green energy” and other initiatives aren’t keeping costs down for the middle class, or for ANY of us, and if we don’t want to go with nuclear energy, or any other energy plan that’s scientifically and economically proven, then let Sacramento lobbyists foot the bill.
Because affordable water, heat, air-conditioning, and energy is really a human right that each of us humans deserve, right?
So there it is—that’s MY cost control wish list (or at least the biggest part of it). I doubt it will actually happen, but if Vice President Harris wants to make them part of her campaign and economic policy, then that will surely help me find the “Joy” she so loudly proclaims!
(Kenneth S. Alpern, M.D, is a dermatologist who has served in clinics in Los Angeles, Orange, and Riverside Counties, and is a proud husband and father. He was active for 20 years on the Mar Vista Community Council (MVCC) as a Board Member focused on Planning and Transportation, and helped lead the grassroots efforts of the Expo Line as well as connecting LAX to MetroRail. His latest project is his fictional online book entitled The Unforgotten Tales of Middle-Earth, and can be reached at [email protected]. The views expressed in this article are solely those of Dr. Alpern.)
