Legacy media attacks Kamala Harris' price control policies, calls them 'Soviet,' 'gimmicks'

Outlets from CNN to the Washington Post and others in corporate media have gone after Kamala Harris. The Democrat nominee unveiled some of her economic plans this week, including a policy for price controls. After the corporate media outlets have largely gone easy on her, they seem to be drawing a line at socialist-style policies.

A contributor on CNN, for example, said that Harris wanting to stop "price gouging" on food will likely lead to shortages. The grocery industry often has profit margins of around 1-3 percent.

Economics and political commentator Catherine Rampell told the hosts on the broadcast network that banning "price gouging" would likely amount to policymakers determining what prices are "too high." She added, "We‘ve seen this kind of thing tried in lots of other countries before. Venezuela, Argentina, the Soviet Union.” Rampell also released an opinion from the Washington Post, titled, "When your opponent calls you 'communist,' maybe don't propose price controls?"

CNN also released an opinion from Elizabeth Buchwald, titled, "Harris’ plan to stop price gouging could create more problems than it solves." The article cited Gavin Roberts, who is the chair of Weber State University’s economics department. Roberts said that the "price gouging" laws would motivate people “to go buy goods more than they would if prices had risen," potentially causing shortages in food.

Aside from Rampell's piece at the outlet, the Washington Post Editorial Board took aim at the policies put forth by Harris with the title, "The times demand serious economic ideas. Harris supplies gimmicks." The board wrote that Harris did not "level with voters" in her North Carolina speech on economic policy on Friday, noting that she blamed inflation on "big business" and planned to "enforce a vaguely defined 'federal ban on price gouging.'"

The editors continued, "Thankfully, this gambit by Ms. Harris has been met with almost instant skepticism, with many critics citing President Richard M. Nixon’s failed price controls from the 1970s. Whether the Harris proposal wins over voters remains to be seen, but if sound economic analysis still matters, it won’t."

The Wall Street Journal pushed out a report on the economic policies of both Donald Trump and Harris, and wrote of Harris' idea that the Covid-19 pandemic led to companies reaping massive profits through price gouging, "Most economists give the idea little credence, instead attributing inflation to governments around the world flooding their economies with stimulus after Covid-19 broke out, while global supply chains struggled to meet surging demand amid the pandemic and worker shortages."

The WSJ piece added, "It remains unclear exactly how Harris’s proposed ban on price-gouging—a term with no clear definition—would work."

The New York Times also headlined, "Harris plans to ban grocery 'price gouging.' What does the evidence say?" In the piece, NYT reporters Jim Tankersley and Jeanna Smialek wrote that Harris' accusations of "price gouging" due to corporate greed were more complicated than the Democratic candidate let off in the speech.