Since price inflation is a problem, Kamala Harris has come out with a rather non-specific economic plan to deal with it. She has come out in favor of price controls on food. Why not price controls on everything else we buy? It isn’t just food that has become expensive.
Her official announcement came on August 16, 2024. This came a day after the 53rd anniversary of Nixon announcing price controls, that also included an end to any ties between the dollar and gold.
It’s interesting how our high price inflation today really goes back to that day on August 15, 1971 when the dollar became a total fiat currency. Of course, the problems started way before that time. The Fed came into existence in 1913. There has never been a true free market with money in the history of this country, but it was a lot closer prior to 1913.
Roosevelt outlawed the holding of gold by Americans in 1933, and it didn’t become legal again until the end of 1974. But foreign governments could still redeem gold for their U.S. dollars, which is exactly what France was doing. This is why Nixon was essentially compelled to end this. The U.S. government would quickly run out of gold unless the Fed actually stopped printing money.
The Good News
Before you worry about running out and buying food while it is still available, realize that there is a lot that has to happen here. First, Kamala Harris has to actually win the presidency. Second, even if she does win, this would presumably have to go through Congress.
Of course, maybe Kamala learned from her mentor and her mentor’s handlers. She can just channel her inner dictator and issue an executive order declaring price controls on food. After all, Biden declared that about 100 million Americans would lose their job if they didn’t submit to getting jabbed in the arm. He also declared that student loan debt would be forgiven. When the Supreme Court overturns some of these dictatorial claims, there are no negative consequences for the executive branch. “Oh well. I guess we’ll try some other way around it.”
If Queen Kamala declares price controls, you can bet there will be a lot of resistance, including lawsuits. The price controls probably won’t last long.
Price controls tend not to last long anyway because they are so destructive. If the shelves at grocery stores are near empty a few weeks after the implementation of price controls, I think most people are at least bright enough to put 2 and 2 together on this one.
Trump has already compared the price control proposal to communism, so it will make it difficult for Trump to do something like this if he ends up as president. Trump has his own disastrous set of economic policy proposals, but I don’t think they will include price controls on food.
Pandering
The reason Kamala Harris came out with this proposal is because it is something that people want to hear, or at least she and her campaign team think it is something that people want to hear.
It is clear that increasing consumer prices is a major issue in this campaign. I would contend that it is the biggest issue personally for Americans. Middle class Americans (and definitely lower class Americans) are struggling a lot. They are having trouble paying for their basic needs.
It has not been lost on some people that Kamala Harris is the vice president now, and it is not as if she has been criticizing Joe Biden. If she has a plan to bring down price inflation, why wait until January 2025 or later?
Trump seems to get lucky with a lot of things. Maybe getting shot in the ear was unlucky, but I think it was more luck that he turned his head at just the right time.
Trump may think that the 2020 election was stolen from him, but I think he was done a favor. If Trump had remained president in 2021, we still would have seen rising price inflation. Part of it is his fault for going along with the lockdowns in 2020 and allowing massive government spending.
The whole system is corrupt, and there is almost no talk of actually reducing government spending at the national level. How will the Fed be able to keep price inflation under control when it has to help fund these giant budget deficits?
If you want to stop food prices from going up, and maybe even to have them go down, then stop all deficit spending and stop the Fed from creating new money out of thin air at the first sign of an economic downturn.
Kamala Harris and her team know that prices are a big issue, so this is her way of addressing it. She is pandering. She is essentially trying to buy votes. But there is no redistribution of wealth here. Price controls will hurt almost everyone. She is just counting on voters not to understand that. She is hoping that the voters just think she can wave a magic wand and make prices go down. She will be right with some voters.
This is just an election promise that probably won’t come to fruition even if she does win. Still, Biden was far worse than I ever imagined, so I guess you never know. Kamala Harris is an authoritarian, but she is also a puppet and a politician. Her proposal for price controls is the politician in her attempting to pander to voters.