“Law applied to its extreme is the greatest injustice” ― Marcus Tullius Cicero, On Duties

Well the Price Control Commission (PCC) was at it again this week suggesting they'd had enough and would fine Super Value if they visit one more store and do not find the documents there to prove the prices being charged.

Bear in mind the PCC is visiting a branch store, one of many, that receive their goods from a central warehouse or wholesalers that go in and stock the shelves directly so it seems ludicrous that each store/outlet would have to keep invoices on hand to prove prices.

I've read the Price Control Act from cover to cover and I cannot find this requirement. And even if there is such a clause, it should be deleted without delay.

The law gives the PCC the right to request the presentation of documents at a time and place specified and this is quite different than the interpretation the PCC is presently using. Read what I think is the relevant clause (pdf) here…

Now I'm not a lawyer so would appreciate any documents that would confirm or counter my interpretation.

An even more serious problem with this law, and many others, is it gives the PCC the authority to summarily convict. In other words they are the prosecutor, judge and jury and this seems at direct odds with the rule of law and independent justice.

Read more from Tribune Business here…

In the final, the Price Control Act does not control prices. It controls profit on the items. However, like price controls that have been tried for over 4,000 years and failed, there are a few unintended consequences.

1. Shortages.
2. Increased prices of non "controlled" items, and
3. Rent seeking by the bureaucrats (bribes)

Rank politics is evident in all its glory with a law like price control particularly when the bureaucrat is prosecutor, judge and jury who can interpret the law any way they might choose.

H.L. Mencken put it best when he said:

"The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary."

It's time to stop the charade and razzle dazzle and remove price control from the law books before too many more injustices are carried out by the government that is supposed to prevent harm, not inflict it.