Letter: Let the market dictate prices

Monday, Feb. 5, 2001 | 10:32 a.m.

By imposing price caps on retail sales of energy, California politicians effectively pumped up demand and throttled supply simultaneously, an obvious recipe for disaster. This government mismanagement of California's energy sector illustrates a simple but critical lesson in basic economics that applies to other sectors as well.

Liberal politicians often promote the same sort of ruinous price-control policies in the health care sector, but obviously price controls on medicine and other health care products and services will have the same disastrous effect in the health care sector that they had in the energy sector.

Supply, demand and prices of medicines and other health care products and services should be set by democratic, free-market forces, not by arrogant government bureaucrats in Washington.

TIM BEAZLEY

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