Harris, Trump present dueling economic visions

WASHINGTON (TND) — Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump are pitching their plans for America’s economic future. Harris unveiled her plan at an event in North Carolina Friday.

“Together we will build what I call an opportunity economy," she told supporters.

One of her key ideas includes cracking down on price gouging. She’s pledging a federal ban on the practice of groceries in her first 100 days if she wins.

My plan will include new penalties for opportunistic companies that exploit crises and break the rules, and we will support smaller food businesses that are trying to play by the rules and get ahead," she said.

Economists aren’t convinced a price-gouging crackdown is a quick fix. Jason Furman, a Harvard professor and economist who was part of the Obama administration, told the New York Times the pitch “is not sensible policy.” It's partly because multiple factors beyond corporate greed caused prices to rise and inflation to stick around.

Trump said the plan would lead to food shortages.

Now Kamala is proposing communist price control she wants price controls and if they work I'd go along with it too but they don't work they actually have the exact opposite impact and effect," Trump told reporters in New Jersey this week.

Trump vows to bring down prices himself with a focus on cutting regulations and increasing energy production.

"So when I win, I will immediately bring prices down. Starting on day one, we will end Kamala's war on American energy and we will drill baby drill," he said.

Fiscal responsibility advocates say the country needs a better long-term plan than campaign promises.

“We’re not going to meaningfully bring overall prices down. What we need to do is get inflation under control, keep it under control, and then get interest rates down so that people aren’t saving money at the grocery store and then spending it on their mortgage or car loan," said Marc Goldwein, a senior vice president and senior policy director for the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.

The inflation rate reached its lowest level since 2021 and a rate cut could be coming soon, but food prices are still up 21% compared to three years ago.