Food Costs and Price Controls: Kamala’s Bread Lines Ahead?

Even the Jeff Bezos-owned Washington Post could not stomach the new proposal from Kamala Harris to place price controls on food. The headline of the opinion piece from Catherine Rampell read:

“When your opponent calls you a ‘communist,’ maybe don’t try price controls?”

Food prices are indeed out of control, and in fact far worse than the official CPI statistics convey. Those numbers admit that grocery prices have risen +20% since Harris became vice president.

But Harris’ own Department of Agriculture provides a much worse – and more accurate – take on grocery inflation since she and Biden took office. The USDA “thrifty plan” that represents a frugal basket of food for a family of four has skyrocketed from $675 per month in January of 2021 to $975 per month now. That $300 increase represents a stunning 44% increase – and an extra $75 per month for struggling working class families … just to eat!

Intelligent Americans deservedly and clearly blame Harris and Biden for this crisis. In a recent American Greatness/North Star Opinion Research poll, nearly two-thirds (64%) of voters across the seven battleground states said that Harris deserves “a great deal” or “some” of the blame for the spike in food prices.

Looking at the state level, in the latest American Greatness/TIPP poll of battleground Wisconsin, voters were asked if they were better off four years ago when Donald Trump was president. By a whopping 60-33% margin, they preferred the Trump economy.

Drilling down within the economy, the top concern among voters was overall inflation, followed by food prices, which 47% of Wisconsin voters placed as a top-three concern. Clearly, citizens are stressed and angry, and they blame Kamala Harris.

So, what is the answer from Harris? 

Price controls. No, for reals.

Rather than address the underlying issues, especially the exorbitant level of borrowing and spending under Biden and Harris, the vice president’s “solution” is to resort to a literal Marxist concept of simply limiting the prices that can be charged, as if such an autocratic decree can actually work.

Her proposal is akin to the owner of a house with a rodent problem simply declaring that “mice are no longer allowed in this house.” Problem solved? Um, no.

But actually, Harris’ proposal is even worse, because the inevitable longer-term fallout of such price controls is a vastly constrained supply of the restricted item. Just look at Venezuela right now, for a depressing real-world example. If you tell farmers and processors and stores what they can charge for bread, before very long you end up with far less bread.

So, who is ready for Kamala’s Bread Lines???

Even the very left-of-center Catherine Rampell who wrote the Washington Post piece gets this reality. Ms. Rampell can often be seen on CNN, where she is a contributor, assailing Trump and defending Harris and Biden.

But, to Rampell’s credit, this latest loony proposal is a bridge too far. In her piece Rampell explains that “it’s hard to exaggerate how bad this policy is … the FTC would be able to tell, say, a Kroger in Ohio the acceptable price it can charge for milk.”  The article continues with a warning: “At best this would lead to shortages, black markets, and hoarding.”

So, if you do not want to find a back alley “milk dealer” or wait in Kamala’s bread lines, then it would be best to elect candidates who will actually address the underlying causes of inflation broadly, and food inflation specifically. Under President Trump, working Americans enjoyed an economy with soaring real wages, meaning pay adjusted for inflation. Let’s get back to those days.

This article was originally published by RealClearPolitics and made available via RealClearWire.