Harris’ plan to stop price gouging could create more problems than it solves

[Ana the Ist]

HIGH FOOD PRICES
If you wish to lower food prices, then go to the sources of much of the high prices.

1) Unavailability of labor
We need hundreds of thousands more of legal workers. It is ridiculous for those in the Northeast and Northwest to import apples from Chile, South Africa and Mexico instead of picking apples in NY and Washington state. BTW, Washington orchards have offerred $25 an hour or more, focusing on college students with almost ZERO takers.

2) Cost of labor
I remember when farmers in California were forced to pay a somewhat reasonable wage to their workers. Prices went up. I've fine with that. I don't want folks working for $4 an hour so that I can have cheaper produce.

3) Transportation costs
These costs have gone way up, primarily because of lack of truck drivers, and the need to pay them more.

4) Agricultural subsidies
By their nature, these subsidies are inflationary. Are we willing to save some farmers by artificially increasing and stabilizing prices. Probably we are.

IF THERE IS CORPORATE GREED
Buy another product. Shop in another store. Have federal actions against any price fixing. The answer is NOT government interferences with market prices. [Note that there are "grocery deserts', greatly underserved areas where a local store can charge much more than elsewhere. The answer is to stimulate competition by providing grants to those who would open local stores and co-ops. Government price limits and profit limits are not the answer.

If the government wants the profitable companies to make less, the answer (a poor one" is an excess profits tax, or even higher corporate taxes at the top brackets. This is so much better than interfering with the open market for goods and services.

HOUSING
House prices are too high. OK. So the Harris answer is to give new buyers $25K each to spend. It takes a special kind of economic analysis to believe that this will bring prices DOWN.

Rent control limits on large corporate owners. The devil is in the details.

If price fixing is occurring (and there's at least some local examples in regards to rent) then those involved should pay. They're literally robbing people.

 

[Ana the Ist]

I read the whole op-ed article and underneath i saw a video by Robert Reich on the same subject.
He talked about monopolies. 4 companies control 70% of the food market, making it easier for them to control prices.
I have seen graphs and stats elsewhere showing the record profits these companies realized when supply chain issues eased and prices were kept high.
We need competition, and we need to exert pressure on these monopolies by heavily publicizing their anti-consumer policies.
BTW, Reich's credit are way more extensive than an economist from "Weber University."

It's against the law to price fix.

If these companies have made 500 billion from price fixing....we should take that 500 billion, provide it back to the consumer in tax breaks, and throw people in jail.

 

[Ana the Ist]

Actually wouldn't that be Fascism?

The national socialist sort....yes.

 

[Ana the Ist]

Reich is a left wing hack, I’d take anything he said with that in mind.

Left wing hack or not....he's probably right.

GDP fell for about 3 months total after covid? Despite all those small businesses closing, all those people losing jobs, and yet big business kept profits. Many non-essential consumer goods have either returned to normal or semi-normal prices....others have lower than normal prices....

Food and rent remain ridiculously high.

Democrats Ask Biden to Investigate Grocery Store Price-Fixing

“Congress has stalled out on doing work that it could do to help families lower costs," Sen. Warren tells TIME. "The President has the tools to fight back.”

time.com

Those are essentials....so they are resistant to lack of demand.

 

[Ana the Ist]

He's not an economist. It's more accurate to say that he worked in (among other things) economic policy.

We have people working in economic policy that aren't economists?

 

[HARK!]

We have people working in economic policy that aren't economists?

That explains the legacy that Biden hopes to pass to Harris.

 

[Ana the Ist]

Rent control limits on large corporate owners. The devil is in the details.

There's absolutely no reason I can think of for corporate owned private housing apart from...

Extracting rent.

Market manipulation.

If you aren't building and selling residential properties then you shouldn't be owning them. Renting them indefinitely is not a public good. On a long enough timeline....it's not even good for the corporate owners.

 

[HARK!]

There's absolutely no reason I can think of for corporate owned private housing apart from...

Extracting rent.

Market manipulation.

If you aren't building and selling residential properties then you shouldn't be owning them. Renting them indefinitely is not a public good. On a long enough timeline....it's not even good for the corporate owners.

When this real estate market bubble bursts; it's going to make 1929 look like a walk in the park.

We really need an administration that understand economics.

 

[Ana the Ist]

When this real estate market bubble bursts; it's going to make 1929 look like a walk in the park.

We really need an administration that understand economics.

I say we eminent domain the biggest ones now....before it gets much worse.

 

[iluvatar5150]

We have people working in economic policy that aren't economists?

Yes.

By “economists,” I mean academics with PhD’s who publish research, not merely folks like Reich who’ve had some grad courses on the subject and worked jobs that deal with economic issues.

 

[NxNW]

So for 3.5 years they have created higher prices, ruined our economy, Now they are trying to fix it? Nope I am voting differently.

The economy is in far far better shape than during the Trump Recession.

 

[NxNW]

When this real estate market bubble bursts; it's going to make 1929 look like a walk in the park.

We really need an administration that understand economics.

Let the free markets go where they go. It's not Biden's big or Trump's job to interfere with real estate pricing.

 

[NxNW]

When Biden's wars kick into full swing you'll see a greater hike in food prices

Biden doesn't have any wars.

 

[HARK!]

The economy is in far far better shape than during the Trump Recession.

How The Economy Really Fared Under Biden And Trump–From Jobs To Inflation​

Stock market:

Stocks performed better under Trump,

Inflation:

Inflation has been far worse during the Biden administration, up 19.9% over the first 41 months of Biden’s term compared to 5.4% during Trump’s first 41 months, according to the government’s consumer price index. Year-over-year inflation peaked under Biden at a four-decade high of 9% in 2022

Job market:

Perhaps Trump’s most impressive labor market feats were unemployment declining from 4.7% to as low as 3.5% in late 2019 and early 2020, which tied its lowest level since 1969 and wages growing by an inflation-beating 15% over his four-year term.

Consumer health:

Consumer sentiment was lower last month than it ever was under Trump, according to the University of Michigan’s widely tracked survey as Americans continue to feel the aftershocks of inflation

Key Background​

The economy is the top issue named by voters ahead of the November presidential election, according to many polls. Research also indicates Americans have more belief in Trump to oversee the economy

How The Economy Really Fared Under Biden And Trump–From Jobs To Inflation

Here’s your economic primer ahead of Thursday’s debate as both Biden and Trump angle to present a rosy economic picture during the complicated last decade.

www.forbes.com

 

[HARK!]

Biden doesn't have any wars

Nonsense

 

[HARK!]

Let the free markets go where they go. It's not Biden's big or Trump's job to interfere with real estate pricing.

Biden shutting down the economy is the cause for the pending office building bust; and his open borders have tremendous influence on the inflated housing bubble.

Let's pray that the markets crash before the election; so that America still has time to respond to the wake up call.

Let's pray that our enemies don't nuke us over the Biden Administration's aggression in the mean time

 

[Vambram]

Kamala Harris' grocery 'price gouging' plan is riddled with problems

It's 'hard to exaggerate how bad Kamala Harris's price-gouging proposal is,' one liberal columnist wrote.

www.newsweek.com

 

[mark46]

Let the free markets go where they go. It's not Biden's big or Trump's job to interfere with real estate pricing.

There are lots of ways to bring housing and rental prices down without regulating prices or adding money to pay for already small supply.
======================
SOME IDEAS
1) Get rid of the idea that youth have no need to save for a down payment or to start out with a smaller house. Ditto for rentals. We think that it is the right of a 21-30 year old to own a house at least as large as his or her parents. There is a need for savings in order to pruchase a first house.

2) Zoning rules greatly add to the cost of building units. One goal of zoning should be to increase the number of housing units.

3) There needs to be many more smaller houses (think Levittown).

4) The cost of labor needs to be decreased by allowing tens of thousands of more legal immigrants. Many contractor studies have shown that more available workers would greatly increase the number of units built.

5) Federally mandated low cost housing hasn't worked. The control and interest in low-cost housing needs to be local.
============
INSURANCE
Just, BTW, insurance costs have increased greatly. I think that this is appropriate. Climatic changes have caused much more damage. Also, folks continue to build and live in areas prone to weather issues. If anything, many areas should have much higher rates to prevent rebuilding in those areas. There might be more programs of disaster insurance much like flood insurance, but that doesn't mean that it should be less expensive.

 

[iluvatar5150]

How The Economy Really Fared Under Biden And Trump–From Jobs To Inflation​

Job market:

Perhaps Trump’s most impressive labor market feats were unemployment declining from 4.7% to as low as 3.5% in late 2019 and early 2020, which tied its lowest level since 1969

Unemployment hit 3.4% a couple times in 2023. Right now, it’s where it was in mid-2017.

Civilian unemployment rate

www.bls.gov

 

[HARK!]

Unemployment hit 3.4% a couple times in 2023. Right now, it’s where it was in mid-2017.

Low paying jobs don't put food on the table in this economy. In my charity work, I see the food lines grow longer every week.

Homelessness also recently hit an all time high.