Food Industry Leaders Challenge Vice President Harris’s Allegations of Grocery Stores “Price Gouging” – One America News Network
OAN Staff Blake Wolf
11:20 AM – Wednesday, August 21, 2024
Executives from the food industry have spoken out against Vice President Kamala Harris’s accusations of grocery stores and supermarkets “price gouging” as a way to shift blame away from her administration’s ineffective policies.
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Following Joe Biden dropping out of the presidential race, Harris has now been vocalizing her desire to bring prices down at the grocery store, even though prices have skyrocketed the most during her vice presidency. Meanwhile, Harris continuously blames “corporate greed” for the rising prices, an oversimplified talking point that creates a vague “bad guy” for the people to condemn while taking the heat off both her and Biden.
Harris has stated that if she is elected president, she would empower the Federal Trade Commission and state attorneys general to penalize companies who exploit consumers at the grocery store.
However, food executives have now begun to take a stand against Harris’s claims by responding directly to her, citing high levels of inflation at the top level as the culprit of the soaring costs.
“We understand why there is this sticker shock and why it’s upsetting,” stated Andy Harig, vice president of large food retailer, FMI. “But to automatically just say there’s got to be something nefarious, I think to us that is oversimplified.”
Biden-Harris administration policies have resulted in a 21% increase in grocery prices, and economists say that Harris’s proposed solution of price controls could have even more negative consequences for Americans.
“It can be very hard to create any price control that is not gameable,” stated Michael Sinkinson, an economist at Northwestern University Kellogg School of Management. “How do you set a price control? What is the right benchmark?”
Donald Trump has also weighed in on Harris’s new policy proposal, describing it as a “Communist price control” policy, which would further increase inflation rather than what it intended to do.
Additionally, the Washington Post’s editorial board even wrote an opinion piece recently that scrutinizes Harris’s policy proposal, calling it a “populist gimmick.”
“Vice President Kamala Harris’s speech Friday was an opportunity to get specific with voters about how a Harris presidency would manage an economy that many feel is not working well for them,” the piece stated. “Unfortunately, instead of delivering a substantial plan, she squandered the moment on populist gimmicks. Americans are clearly still anxious and angry about the high cost of groceries, housing and even $5.29 Big Macs.”
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