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Government Price-Fixing 113production in his line. But nearly everyone refuses to generalize thisobservation, for it means that he will have to pay more for the productsof others.Each one of us, in brief, has a multiple economic personality. Eachone of us is producer, taxpayer, consumer. The policies he advocatesdepend upon the particular aspect under which he thinks of himself atthe moment. For he is sometimes Dr. Jekyll and sometimes Mr. Hyde.As a producer he wants inflation (thinking chiefly of his own servicesor product); as a consumer he wants price ceilings (thinking chiefly ofwhat he has to pay for the products of others). As a consumer he mayadvocate or acquiesce in subsidies; as a taxpayer he will resent payingthem. Each person is likely to think that he can so manage the politicalforces that he can benefit from the subsidy more than he loses fromthe tax, or benefit from a rise for his own product (while his raw materialcosts are legally held down) and at the same time benefit as a consumerfrom price control. But the overwhelming majority will bedeceiving themselves. For not only must there be at least as much lossas gain from this political manipulation of prices; there must be a greatdeal more loss than gain, because price-fixing discourages and disruptsemployment and production.