Price gouging as her first policy announcement? Really?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My opinion: this is a straw man argument to deflect attention and commentary about inflation and gas prices under the Biden/Harris administration.

Uh, she is trying to address the costs of things in a way that a government can.

Use the power of the government to negotiate the prices of certain drugs for medicare recipients
Provide block grants to increase the supply of housing while also providing incentives for home ownership
Incentivize competition to help reduce food prices.

And gas prices? It is cheap relative to historic costs. I can get it for under $3.50 a gallon in DC. On the eastern shore, it is closer to $3.25.

The only reason it was at $2.00 in 2020 was because the economy ground to a halt and the refineries couldn't give it away.

So riddle me this: how come this wasn’t done months/years ago? First we were dismissed and told inflation was transitory. Now we’re told it was the corporations all along, Biden/harris admin failed to observe this phenomena or they did observe but didn’t care until right before the election. The DNC is run by amateurs with an overinflated sense of self-importance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Here's the thing. I don't care anything about this, but when people are constantly complaining about prices and inflation, and then she tries to propose a solution, it's heresy.

What do you want from her exactly? Trump hasn't said 2 words beyond, prices are up. Ok.

To do her job now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2024/03/21/ftc-report-grocery-chains-gouge/73059901007/

Did grocery chains take advantage of COVID shortages to raise prices? FTC says yes.

The prices didn’t go up until a year and a half into the Biden administration.

They weren’t up during covid shortages during the Trump admin.

I read that the global grain shortage from the Ukraine war raised the price of food globally and food in the US was hit due to livestock and even fish being grain fed here

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My opinion: this is a straw man argument to deflect attention and commentary about inflation and gas prices under the Biden/Harris administration.

Uh, she is trying to address the costs of things in a way that a government can.

Use the power of the government to negotiate the prices of certain drugs for medicare recipients
Provide block grants to increase the supply of housing while also providing incentives for home ownership
Incentivize competition to help reduce food prices.

And gas prices? It is cheap relative to historic costs. I can get it for under $3.50 a gallon in DC. On the eastern shore, it is closer to $3.25.

The only reason it was at $2.00 in 2020 was because the economy ground to a halt and the refineries couldn't give it away.

So riddle me this: how come this wasn’t done months/years ago? First we were dismissed and told inflation was transitory. Now we’re told it was the corporations all along, Biden/harris admin failed to observe this phenomena or they did observe but didn’t care until right before the election. The DNC is run by amateurs with an overinflated sense of self-importance.

She is assuming a House not controlled by the GOP- what bills have been passed since January 2023? Do you think a president under our system, can just make it happen by saying it?

[Anonymous]

[Anonymous]

Biden doesn't understand the 2 trillion + of extra money when he took over for inflation roaring. We just spend 2 years dealing with it and now Harris wants to print more and more. This is a fundamental problem with the socialist/democratic policies. It's the economy stupid. If she came toward the middle, battles the debt, stops this handout bs (which is printing more money), finally admits to entitlement problem then she would have my vote as a republican but I'm not holding my breath.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Controlling prices is insane. Look what rent control does. It boosts the price for everyone else. There’s no such thing as a free lunch. That’s the first thing anyone learns in econ 101. Part of the reason DC or Manhattan apartment rent is so expensive today is because of rent control.

Rent control allows for the elderly to stay in the city that they lived forever in. It also allows low income service workers, those who provide services to the public like you, to live and work in the city. I knew a teacher who had to work two jobs to afford to live in the city she taught in. That's ridiculous.

[Anonymous]

THERE IS NO INFLATION!!!!!!!!


all this crap is just a GOP talking point. Stop falling for it. You’re all just playing right into their argument and are too damn stupid to even realize it.

If you acknowledge there’s any inflation, then you have let the trumpers set the terms of the argument. You’ve already conceded at that point that they are correct.

STOP DOING THAT!!!!!!!!!!! FFS!!!!!!!!


where did you people learn to debate?!?!? WTH?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

If Kamala’s bizarre economic ramblings make you want to gouge your one remaining eye out, I can’t blame you.

“Price gouging” by farmers and mom-and-pop grocery store owners isn’t to blame for inflation- it is the $1.5 trillion in regs Biden-Harris inflicted on American families.

The grocery industry is intensely competitive and low-margin, so it is nonsensical to think the industry has discovered a magical way to fleece Americans in a way that defies econometric measurement. And Kamala can’t even begin to explain why this fictional “price gouging” trend began under her watch, unaddressed until now.

Biden-Harris made housing, groceries, energy, and appliances more expensive, and now they want to distract you from their record.

https://washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/08/15/kamala-harris-price-gouging-groceries/

Profits are up. Good for shareholders; bad for consumers.

https://www.vox.com/money/23641875/food-grocery-inflation-prices-billionaires

Tyson Foods, the largest meat company in the US, also more than doubled its profits between the first quarter of 2021 and the first quarter of 2022. Packaged foods manufacturer General Mills, which owns a variety of cereal brands as well as food brands like Annie’s, Betty Crocker, Chex, and Bisquick, has raised prices five times since 2021 and indicated another price hike could be coming soon. At the end of last year, its profits were up 97 percent compared to the previous quarter, and up 16 percent annually. Conagra, which owns packaged food brands like Healthy Choice, Duncan Hines, and Reddi-wip, noted a 22 percent profit increase in its last quarterly earnings report. Grocery giant Walmart — the largest US corporation, bar none — has seen its profits grow for the past several years, with a 7 percent jump between 2020 and 2021.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2024/03/21/ftc-report-grocery-chains-gouge/73059901007/

Did grocery chains take advantage of COVID shortages to raise prices? FTC says yes.

The prices didn’t go up until a year and a half into the Biden administration.

They weren’t up during covid shortages during the Trump admin.

I read that the global grain shortage from the Ukraine war raised the price of food globally and food in the US was hit due to livestock and even fish being grain fed here

Prices started going up in the early part of 2020, when covid hit. Trump was still in office. Election was in Nov 2020.

You can see the spike in 2020 hit in the middle of March, which coincided with when covid hit hard here.

[Anonymous]

^ source

https://www.economicsobservatory.com/how-has-coronavirus-affected-prices-supermarket

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Controlling prices is insane. Look what rent control does. It boosts the price for everyone else. There’s no such thing as a free lunch. That’s the first thing anyone learns in econ 101. Part of the reason DC or Manhattan apartment rent is so expensive today is because of rent control.

Rent control allows for the elderly to stay in the city that they lived forever in. It also allows low income service workers, those who provide services to the public like you, to live and work in the city. I knew a teacher who had to work two jobs to afford to live in the city she taught in. That's ridiculous.

Rent control arbitrarily benefits those who already have an apartment at the expense of future renters who will have to pay even more for housing. There is a ton of data that shows how rent control does not help long term affordability and actually leads to shortages. San Francisco and New York both have had rent control for decades and yet they are still the most expensive and difficult markets to rent in. Please follow facts and science rather than emotion and empty promises by politicians who just want your vote.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You know where price gouging is actually happening?

The US colleges and universities. And, instead of working to change that... this administration has decided to use taxpayer money to pay off the loans for millions of people who signed for the loans. That does NOTHING to help bring down the cost of college. In fact, it makes it worse.

That’s a fair point. I’m still never voting for Trump.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:CNN cover story online says her plan. Is a BAD IDEA and will cause more problems than it fixes.

https://www.cnn.com/2024/08/16/business/harris-price-gouging-ban-inflation/index.html

Even when CNN says it’s a bad idea, you know it sucks.

CNN is right wing; why wouldn’t they engage in the same slamming of Democrats as the rest of the right wing media?

Meanwhile, Republicans:

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:CNN cover story online says her plan. Is a BAD IDEA and will cause more problems than it fixes.

https://www.cnn.com/2024/08/16/business/harris-price-gouging-ban-inflation/index.html

Even when CNN says it’s a bad idea, you know it sucks.

CNN is right wing; why wouldn’t they engage in the same slamming of Democrats as the rest of the right wing media?

Meanwhile, Republicans:

More proof that the left just can't meme.