In my school, I have been required to read How to ARGUE with a LIBERAL… AND WIN!, and this book has been very interesting. My teacher has told me to pick any chapter of this book, and write the topic, “How could voluntary arrangements solve this problem if the state did not impose the politics of plunder?” on it. So, I have chosen to write on the chapter “Government should control prices, but not people.”
First of all, is it at all possible that the government can control prices without controlling the people? The answer is no. Let me tell you why. “If you look at it extremely closely, you will see that the government is actually controlling the people. The government is using price controls to make the people produce products at a specific amount, sell them at a specific price, and it also makes people buy a limited amount of the product that the people need.” (You can read more on this topic in my essay titled “Price controls are people controls“). So the government uses price controls to set prices, controls the amount of products being produced, controls what price the companies should sell the products for, and controls how much the people can buy.
So how could voluntary arrangements solve this problem if the state did not impose the politics of plunder? One thing that you could do is you could budget. If you budget, you will have a plan on how much money you spend on a service, or item. That way, you will know if you can afford to spend money on a specific thing.