LETTER: Run from wage and price controls
Have you seen ads on television for one presidential candidate that refers to price gouging, and then shows an image of a grocery store?
It is nothing more than a gimmick loaded with a false promise of reducing our grocery bills. To accomplish such a feat, we would have to sign onto wage and price controls. Here is some advice – when a politician talks of controlling prices, do yourself a favor and run faster than the Road Runner runs away from Wile E Coyote.
When price controls were enacted in the 1970s, the end result was economic hardship. The next time you go to the grocery store ask how much it costs to operate it for a month. Costs include rent or lease payments, taxes, insurance, payroll, energy costs and the goods for sale.
Why are prices going up?. For example, the cost of a grocery order in 2016 was $100, and now the same items cost $132.69, and the same $100 to purchase energy in 2016 will now be $149.70.
The products in a grocery store were delivered by a vehicle that is powered by gasoline or diesel fuel. When the price of fuel increases, so does the cost of shipping, which in turn is added to the price we pay.
Please do not blame the so-called greedy grocery store owners, because the blame must be placed on those who control energy policies in our country.
Ed Zadylak
Connellsville