Harris and Price Controls

Larry Elder: Price Controls Are Bad — No Matter Who Demands Them

Price controls remain bad policy whether proposed by people we like or do not like, whether by Democrats or Republicans or whether by Vice President Kamala Harris or former President Donald Trump. (President Trump is AGAINST price controls)

Harris blames the inflation triggered by the irresponsible Biden-Harris government spending on “corporate greed.” Without evidence, she accuses grocery stores of ripping off helpless consumers by jacking up prices. Biden accuses the makers of the Snickers candy bar of committing “shrinkflation” by charging the same price for a package but downsizing its contents.

Biden said: “The snack companies think you won’t notice if they change the size of the bag and put a hell of a lot fewer — same size bag — put fewer chips in it. You get charged the same amount and you got about 10% fewer Snickers in it.” Snickers denies shrinkflation with their product.

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I can attest to two products that have reduced the size of their product and kept the price the same: Toilet paper and Tropicana Orange Juice that went from a 52oz bottle to a 48oz and the price remains the same.

And President Trump has blasted his rival's call for a federal ban on food price gouging as "communist" price controls.

“Economists generally oppose most price controls, believing that they produce costly shortages and gluts,” wrote Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis economist Christopher J. Neely in a 2022 article.

We have a free market society -- supply and demand dictates prices.

CNBC anchor Schools Pocahontas on Price Controls

CNBC anchor obliterates Elizabeth Warren in debate over Harris' price control plan

'Those are fallacious and misleading'

Joe Kernen of CNBC schooled Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts on the history of price controls in a debate about the economic policies of Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris.

Kernen explained the free market argument against price controls to Warren on "Squawk Box."

"I can paint you a picture of how that would work and how it's worked in the past where we've artificially tried to hold prices down, competition doesn't come in," said Kernen.

“If beef is too high, people don’t move to chicken because competitors don’t come in to undercut where the beef prices are. Nothing works when you try to artificially control prices. It’s just a supply and demand issue. It’s a flawed idea,” he continued.

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