Despite the subservient coverage of Vice President Kamala Harris in the liberal press, she faces a complicated conundrum: How can she distance herself from President Joe Biden’s failed and unpopular economic policies, which she has supported in their entirety, without changing fundamental policy?
So far, she has been stalling for time and has yet to give a substantive interview or press conference since knocking Biden out of the race. Even the most obsequious press in a generation is growing impatient with Harris’s refusal to answer even the most basic questions about public policy.
Then it comes to Harris’ big economic speech this Friday in North Carolina, where she will reportedly denounce Biden and Harris’ weakness on inflation, blaming it on “corporate greed” and promising to order the Federal Trade Commission to impose new price controls on “food and groceries” to combat “excessive corporate profits.”
The details of how Harris will set food prices and determine which corporate profits are “excessive” and which are not are, according to the most sympathetic press outlets, “not immediately clear” and “sparse in detail.”
Don’t expect any greater clarity in Harris’ speech on Friday.
Blaming corporate greed for inflation is an age-old claim, but unlike corporate greed, this one is unfounded. Biden has been trying the same argument for years. His recent State of the Union address was about corporate “price gouging” and “shrinkflation.” Biden’s salesmanship kept most voters from paying attention. But with Harris at the top of the ticket, Democrats are hoping voters will reconsider.
Democrats have numerous polls showing that voters may believe this story. The left-wing think tank Data for Progress, founded by Sean McElwee of the well-known Abolish ICE movement, has released polling data showing that 75% of voters support “the federal government punishing companies that raise their prices above the rate of inflation.” Blueprint, a polling firm founded for the sole purpose of helping Democrats win in 2024, shows that while voters believe government spending is the main factor behind high inflation, “corporate greed” comes in second.
If you talk to any economist, even a Democrat, they’ll tell you that this is all ignorant nonsense. It’s not like companies can raise prices at will in a competitive market without losing revenue, nor did companies suddenly become greedy after Donald Trump left office. And as bad as the “corporate greed” diagnosis is, Harris’ price control solution is even worse. Price controls lead to lower production and even higher prices on the black market.
Harris will most likely never implement the price controls she is now threatening. It is a purely political argument that polls well and can be put aside as soon as the election is over. Like Harris, it is almost entirely false.
But just as Biden abused the Department of Education to push through illegal student loan amnesties, Harris could abuse the FTC to impose price controls.
We’ve seen a similar farce in California. Democrats’ policies have driven up the price of gasoline in the Golden State for years. Rather than admit that their own policies are causing the high prices, California Democrats have taken action to punish oil companies for profiteering. The end result is fewer oil companies in the state and even higher prices.
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It’s the same maneuver we’ve seen in socialist countries across Latin America: flood the economy with money, create inflation, and then promise to crack down on “corporate greed.” The next step is nationalizing oil production, which is something California Democrats are actually considering.
In reality, there is no difference between Harris and Biden on economic issues. If anything, Harris would have spent even more money than Biden. She is a fraud. But to the extent that she is different, she is more authoritarian and left-wing than he is. And that is saying something! Something not good.
