
"Harris proposed a ban on price gouging would in theory disallow food and grocery companies from hiking prices an excessive amount over a set period of time, economists told ABC News. They disagreed, however, on whether the measure could control the rise of food prices or if such an outcome is desirable."
It is unclear what this even means. In a NYT article about it, Jim Tankersley writes that “Harris campaign officials did not detail how a price-gouging ban would be enforced or what current corporate behaviors would be outlawed if it were enacted.”
It is already illegal for producers to coordinate so as to fix prices, something Harris also separately said she plans to tackle through harsher penalties. “Price-gouging” is something different than that, but also seems to sometimes be used to refer to a very narrow set of practices like increasing the prices the day after a hurricane while other times being used to refer to any time sellers increase prices during a positive demand shock or negative supply shock, which is kind of how a lot of the economy works (when restaurants increase prices after happy hour, are they engaged in food price-gouging?).
Here are the top political news stories for today.
Grocery stores have razor-thin profit margins and people are talking about them price gouging.
@FabulousUrchinDemocrat2yrs2Y
Genuine question, where do the price increases come from, find the price increase and solve the increasing issue.
It's mostly from increases in the money supply.
How does increased money supply force businesses to raise prices? It doesn't but they do.
@M4jorityEddie2yrs2Y
If a pizza is cut in 5 slices, it takes one slice to consume 100 calories.
If the same pizza is cut in 10 slices, it takes two to consume 100 calories.
Inflating the money supply is cutting your pizza into smaller & smaller pieces. It will take more units to get the same goods.
@FabulousUrchinDemocrat2yrs2Y
Corn is now cheaper than it was in 2020 but you don’t see this reflected in consumer prices. Why not? Hmmm…
@9S9JPQ22yrs2Y
I find that it would be significantly better for the lower prices on producing corn, to also reflect upon the grocery prices of corn.
Joe and Kamala did this:
My groceries
Chili powder 3.99 now 5.49
Squash .99/lb now 1.49
Canned beans .99 - 1.19
Frozen vegetables .99/lb - 1.29
Baby carrots .99/lb - 1.49
Boneless skinless chicken breast 1.99lb - 2.69
13.64 new total – 9.94 old = 3.70/9.94 = .372 37% inflation
A better idea would be for the federal government to spend about $45 billion to purchase Kroger. This would allow it to directly set the prices for the second-largest grocery store chain in the country.
@ISIDEWITH2yrs2Y
@ISIDEWITH2yrs2Y
Loading the political themes of users that engaged with this discussion
Loading data...
Join in on more popular conversations.