Former President Donald Trump criticized Vice President Kamala Harris for proposing price controls on groceries, calling it “Soviet style” economic policies. Harris’ campaign announced plans to ban price gouging on food to prevent big corporations from taking advantage of consumers. Trump warned that prices would skyrocket under Harris’s presidency and accused her of wanting to implement Soviet-style price controls while also abolishing private health care and imposing high taxes on Americans. He urged people to vote for him if they wanted more cash and lower taxes.
Harris defended her proposal by stating that there is a difference between fair pricing in competitive markets and excessive prices that are not related to the costs of doing business. However, many commentators and economists criticized the idea, comparing it to failed communist economies in countries such as Venezuela and the Soviet Union. Harvard economist Jason Furman, who worked in President Obama’s administration, described Harris’ plan as not based in reality and warned of potential negative consequences.
Washington Post columnist Catherine Rampell also criticized Harris’s proposal, calling it a bad policy that would lead to sweeping government-enforced price controls across all industries, not just food. She argued that supply and demand would no longer determine prices or profit levels, with Washington bureaucrats having control instead. Rampell compared the proposed controls to policies in the Soviet Union and other communist countries, warning of potential shortages and black markets as a result.
Critics have blasted Harris for her grasp of inflation and her attack on businesses, calling her behavior “lunatic” ahead of a policy speech. Many fear that the price controls proposed by Harris could increase prices rather than curb inflation due to other language in the bill, such as requiring public companies to disclose how they are setting prices in their quarterly reports. This could potentially lead to collusion among companies, which is usually discouraged.
Overall, the proposal by Vice President Kamala Harris to implement federal price controls on groceries to prevent price gouging has sparked widespread criticism from commentators, economists, and former government officials. Many have expressed concerns that such policies could lead to negative economic consequences, similar to those experienced in failed communist economies around the world. Despite the criticisms, Harris and her campaign have defended the proposal as a necessary measure to protect consumers from exploitation by big corporations.
