“For thousands of years governments have imposed maximum price laws and the results have always been the same—shortages that leave consumers worse off. Much as the Roman threat of death couldn’t force producers to bring products to the market, neither can New Jersey’s excessive fines. If gas prices in New York and New Jersey could rise high enough to reflect its true scarcity the profit incentive would induce more suppliers to redirect gas from other states to these areas. Instead, the federal government is scrambling to deliver 22 million gallons of gas itself since the price controls have destroyed the private incentive.”
