Kamala Harris

Peter Suderman | 8.22.2024 11:56 AM

If there's one thing the last 50 years of American politics have proven, it's that voters hate inflation. If there's another, it's that politicians seeking to capitalize on that hatred will propose unproductive, unworkable, and unaffordable policies to counter rising prices.

So it is with Vice President Kamala Harris.

In the weeks since she ascended to the top of the Democratic presidential ticket, Harris has come forward with a suite of policies she has cast as tools for bringing down the cost of living for middle-class Americans. Among those policies are a vague but potentially sweeping federal ban on price gouging for food and groceries, and a subsidy of up to $25,000 for qualified first-time home buyers.

In other words—price regulations and subsidies. History shows that these sorts of policies, which attempt to control market outcomes via top-down federal control, rarely work. And in many cases, they can lead to price hikes and shortages, exactly the opposite of what Harris promises.

Harris isn't wrong, however, to focus on the high cost of living, especially for middle-class essentials like health care, housing, and education. Even with inflation cooling somewhat, there really is an affordability crisis.

Yet it's a crisis that a long history of government interventions has failed to fix, or exacerbated. Americans deserve a policy agenda that is credibly aimed at eliminating the government-determined market distortions that have made the crisis so acute.

It's easy to see why Harris has trained her economic agenda on middle-class affordability. Throughout Joe Biden's presidency, Americans have consistently rated inflation and the economy as top political priorities. They have given Harris' GOP rival, former President Donald Trump, an edge on economic issues. (If nothing else, her agenda and messaging have proven she can read the room—or at least the polls.)

On the campaign trail, Trump has sought to exploit that edge, arguing that he left Biden an economic "miracle" that the Democratic administration squandered, glossing over the economic turmoil he presided over during the pandemic year of 2020.

Harris' proposals, however, leave much to be desired. Consider her proposed ban on grocery price gouging.

At best, it's totally unnecessary: Food........

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