Is there historical or legal precedent for a President freezing prices...

[DRoseDARs]

...like gas prices in times of crisis?

Here's what a freeper co-worker of mine had to say about New Orleans et. al. on MySpace:

hmmm....

first off....something that pisses me off is the current ignorance with politics in america......bush has done everything in his power for LA....it was a disaster.....i mean unless he is able to stop hurricaines from happening completely.....they tried to evacuate the city...people didnt listen....whos fault is that.....he also has no control over gas prices....i hate to say it.....so prior to your forming of an opinion.....lets do some research....so we dont sound stupid again....



My head hurts reading that; the parroting of rightwing BSing points is so blatant. I've already addressed the "blaming the victim" and the "blowhorn moment" claptrap, but I really want to blow his mind with the comment about gas prices. Please tell me (with cited, factual sources) that I can. "Let's do some research..." indeed. :)

[durablend]

1. Nixon did it during the first crisis (73-74)

[Spider Jerusalem]

2. Sure.

Nixon imposed wage and price controls to combat spiralling inflation caused by maintaining the balance of payments under the Bretton Woods system (which was a modified version of the gold standard, basically), and also imposed gasoline price controls and rationing during the oil crisis of the 1973 Israel-Arab War...

[DRoseDARs]

4. Thank you all, especially this kind of post...

...neutral links would be helpful, but it's hard to spin this kind of historical fact. :) :thumbsup:

[Spider Jerusalem]

6. Here are a few links...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1973_oil_crisis

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/commandingheights/shared/minitext/ess_nixongold.html

[still_one]

3. richard nixon, when OPEC boycotted oil he froze prices

nixon was also the first president who tried to solve the energy problem, but was bogged down by impeachment. Carter followed, and also tried, but got no where

Reagan had NO conservation or energy proposals at all, and in fact encouraged its use, and we have been doing that since

[Atman]

5. Nixon froze prices AND wages

It wasn't just oil...he was trying to stop inflation in general. It was one of the first real examples of conservatives doing very un-conservative, radical things. Nixon was a pike compared to the ultra-extremist BushCo right wing.

[mmonk]

7. As others have noted,

wage and price controls by Nixon.

[theboss]

8. It should be noted that Nixon's price controls were disastrous

It's rarely a good idea, because they lead to a reduction in the supply.