With high prices continuing to slam average Americans following three years of explosive inflation under Kamala Harris, the issue has become top of mind for many voters. That's led both nominees to put forth their proposals to bring relief.
Donald Trump has promised to lower taxes, increase energy production, and decrease regulations, all moves that would reduce consumer costs. For her part, Harris has lived vicariously through anonymous aides, refusing to explain what her "opportunity economy" actually is (other than spouting meaningless tripe about "equity") and how it will be accomplished.
Some of that is purposeful. Harris can't come out and pledge to fix the issues that caused inflation because that would mean admitting her administration was largely responsible for them. The vice president hasn't just been second-in-command of the Biden administration, she's provided the tie-breaking vote on several laws that led to the current situation, including the American Rescue Plan and the Inflation Reduction Act.
That has left Harris with only one real option: Claim inflation is the product of greedy corporations who only decided to get greedy the moment she and Joe Biden took office.
In true Harris fashion, though, she's such an empty suit that she screwed up her talking points while speaking to the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.
Vice President Kamala Harris on Wednesday acknowledged that corporate price gouging is not widespread, despite her campaign’s instance that it’s rampant and tackling it would bring down costs for Americans.
Speaking at the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Leadership Conference, Ms. Harris said it was critical for the administration to tackle “price gouging on behalf of corporations to lower the cost of groceries for Americans.” She accused companies of taking advantage of extreme weather emergencies or the COVID-19 pandemic to raise prices and pad profits.
“People are desperate because of these kinds of emergencies, desperate for support. And then some, you know, corporations — and it’s very few of them that do this — but then jack up prices to make it more difficult for desperate people to just get by,” she said.
So let me get this straight. Harris is going to lower prices by going after something that she admits isn't really happening. Makes sense.
For context, prices are up around 22 percent since Harris became vice president, with the largest acceleration happening in her second year in office. Are we to believe that is a result of "price gouging" despite Harris herself not even being able to fully get behind the lie? Grocery stores run on a profit margin in the mid-one-percent range.
SEE: Harris' Price Gouging Claims Wrecked By Grocery Store CEO
Even amid her admission that few corporations are price gouging, Harris never names the ones that supposedly are. That's because the practice (in a nationally relevant sense) is essentially non-existent. Price gouging stems from overwhelming demand faced with extremely limited supply mixed with no competition. That's why you usually only see it happen during events like hurricanes. While Harris cites "extreme weather events," those are so localized and temporary as to have no real effect on national inflation rates.
The hard truth is that Harris has no plan. She thrust herself into the presidential race after tossing Joe Biden aside with full intention to coast to victory without having to define anything she'd actually do as president. Because of a compliant press, she's largely gotten away with it, but the truth always manages to slip out eventually. A Harris presidency would be a meandering disaster run by political insiders that bounce from one Democrat administration to the next. Americans can reject that or suffer the consequences.
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