Wages, salaries, and private income are part of national income. The degree to which it is a part consists on the one hand on the amount of the wages, salaries, and private incomes, on the other hand on the price of goods. If the price of a good is raised above the appropriate amount (cost of production plus a reasonable profit) because of a cartel or the presence of a monopoly of some sort, the purchaser must pay an unjustifiably larger part of his share of the national income. This is always socially unjust and economically dangerous.
State price controls, therefore, must insure that large deviations from appropriate prices are prevented (fertilizer prices, salt prices, radio tubes, etc.).
Objection: This is a harmful intervention by the state.
Response: If prices are reasonable, state intervention is unnecessary. And the freedom of creative economic activity must not be confused with the freedom to ruthlessly exploit others.