This is the depressing lead from a story in the WSJ this week:

Americans in both parties back government-imposed price caps and other market interventions to make life more affordable, suggesting new support for populist ideas that were once largely outside the political mainstream.

That’s the takeaway of a new Wall Street Journal survey that asked respondents what they want from their elected officials and the political system. Voters of all partisan stripes strongly support capping the cost of prescription drugs, child care and credit-card interest rates.

Below are some of the poll results with blue bars being Democratic voters and red bars GOP voters:

History lesson: This nonsense was tried during the 1970s and it led to shortages, 11% inflation, gas lines, and eventually stagflation. Reagan ended virtually all price controls and inflation ended in less than a year. Hard stop.

We all relearned one of the first rules of economics in the 1970s that wage and price controls never work – especially during peacetime. That so many voters (and politicians) don’t understand this today is yet another example of the steep decline of our education system in America.

Pretty soon people will demand everything for free… Oh yeah, they’re already trying that in California and New York.