It is never more obvious that we are ruled by schmucks than when Congress gets together to inquire into consumer prices.

The class of people who are the most politically important in the United States tend to own houses and stock, and they tend to buy gasoline and prescription drugs. And so rising prices are good when the prices in question are houses and company shares — politicians will brag on those rising prices all day, and they enact policies specifically designed to make housing and stock more expensive — but they get all shirty when it is the price of gasoline or prescription drugs going up.

“How dare you charge a price the market will bear for your goods and services!” our imbecilic representatives thunder. “People need those!” They need houses, too, and the prices of many of the goods and services middle-class people consume are driven largely by labor costs — and nobody complains when those get more expensive.

So, a question for the senators: Other than political expediency, why is it good for the country when the price of housing goes up but a national emergency when the price of pharmaceuticals does?