Former President Donald Trump is accusing Vice President Kamala Harris of pushing “Soviet-style” economic policies after she announced her plan to introduce federal price controls on groceries.
Trump warned Americans in a Truth Social post on Friday that “things will get 100 times WORSE” should Harris get majority of the votes in November and become president.
The Republican presidential candidate painted a grim picture, saying, “Under her plan, Kamala will implement SOVIET Style Price Controls.”
“She will abolish private health care and impose California’s ridiculous tax policies on the entire nation, leading to EVERY American being taxed up to 80% of their income! If you want more CASH and less TAX, VOTE TRUMP!!!” he added.
Harris introduced the idea earlier this week, claiming that it would protect consumers from “big corporations” which she believes are taking advantage of them.
She also argued that there is a “big difference between fair pricing in competitive markets and excessive prices unrelated to the costs of doing business.”
According to her, Americans could see this difference reflected in their grocery bills.
However, the Democratic presidential candidate’s proposal, which would be the first federal price-fixing plan for corporations, might not be as genius as she has billed it.
Jason Furman, a Harvard economist who served in President Obama’s administration, sees the plan as flawed and “not based in reality.”
Speaking to The New York Times, Furman said, “This is not sensible policy, and I think the biggest hope is that it ends up being a lot of rhetoric and no reality. There’s no upside here, and there is some downside.”
Catherine Rampell, a columnist for The Washington Post and an economic commentator for CNN, also criticized the proposal, warning that it could lead to disastrous consequences.
“It’s hard to exaggerate how bad this policy is,” Rampell wrote. Comparing the price control plan to failed communist economies in the Soviet Union and Venezuela, she warned that such a plan could lead to shortages, black markets, and overall economic uncertainty.
Rampell also pointed out a particularly troubling aspect of the proposal – the requirement for public companies to disclose how they set prices in their quarterly earnings reports. Noting that the bill’s language could offer “a great way to help them collude,” she highlighted the potential for increased prices rather than decreased ones.
🚨🚨🚨 CNN admits Kamala’s plans for price controls has been a disaster everywhere.
"We‘ve seen this kind of thing tried in lots of other countries before. Venezuela, Argentina, the Soviet Union…it leads to shortages" and would "cause a lot of harm."
— Wall Street Silver (@WallStreetSilv) August 16, 2024
