Staff Reports
Vice President Kamala Harris has decided to take a page from the playbook of socialist regimes worldwide with her latest proposal for government-enforced price controls on groceries. According to a biting analysis from the Washington Post, this plan is not only deeply flawed but represents a significant misunderstanding of basic economic principles. One must wonder if the folks in the Biden administration ever attended an economics class or if they all skipped straight to the “how to fix a mess” section of a communist handbook.
Catherine Rampell, the essay’s author, emphasizes that the intricacies of Harris’s proposal could leave one scratching their head, wondering where on Earth it came from. As grocery prices soar, the blame game has turned into a political tennis match. Rather than acknowledging the role inflation and supply chain issues have played, Harris has decided that corporate America should take the fall. Yet, by offering a banana republic solution of price controls, she is hardly instilling confidence in her ability to govern responsibly. It seems she’s not just throwing spaghetti at the wall; she’s trying to sell the wall as the next great economic marketplace.
Harris has announced her intent to ban so-called “price gouging” within her first hundred days in office. Unfortunately, the details around what constitutes “excessive prices” or “excessive corporate profits” appear as vague as an old Social Security Administration pamphlet. Rampell astutely points out that if Harris doesn’t clarify the rules of her game, it’s a little too convenient to suggest that the Federal Trade Commission could just decide winners and losers in the marketplace based on whatever metric tickles their fancy. It’s the dream scenario for bureaucrats who wish to wield the power of a sledgehammer to smash the delicate scales of supply and demand.
The hypocrisy of this proposal cannot be overstated, especially when considering that price-fixing is already illegal. Harris herself acknowledged this in her crusade against “price gouging.” Yet, her plan seems to fail to recognize that real-world economic dynamics cannot be simplified into a cut-and-dry equation of corporate greed versus consumer demand. Rampell’s observations hint at a troubling ignorance amongst Harris’s advisers, who seem unable to differentiate between typical market fluctuations and actions worthy of legal concern. It’s as if they’ve forgotten history, or worse, decided to ignore it entirely.
Even with a recent report showing that grocery prices have only increased by 1% in the past year—a fact the White House eagerly touted—as Harris makes her pitch, one has to wonder if this effort is more about political theater than genuine concern for struggling Americans. Rampell points out that unchecked demagoguery is at play, with the Harris campaign seemingly more focused on whipping up outrage over corporate “greed” than presenting an honest assessment of the grocery market. This bait-and-switch act could land them in deeper trouble than they realize.
WaPo slams it! That should tell you something right there!
WaPo Slams Kamala Harris’s Government Price Control Plan: ‘Hard to Exaggerate How Bad This Policy Is’ https://t.co/94huspIyFZ— TheTexasTrow™️🇺🇸 (@TheTexasTrow3) August 16, 2024
The Washington Post’s analysis concludes with a clear message: If a politician is already branded a “communist” by opponents, proposing sweeping federal price controls might not be the best strategy to shift that perception. As the Biden administration continues to grapple with its economic messaging, one must ask if they really want to join the ranks of governments that have painted their citizens into a corner with ill-considered policies that benefit no one—but do bring a certain nostalgic charm of defunct economies. Harris’s grocery plan might be the next big headline, but it could easily turn into an even bigger punchline.
