Current:Home > ContactHarris' economic plan promises voters affordable groceries and homes. Don't fall for it. -WealthSync Hub
Harris' economic plan promises voters affordable groceries and homes. Don't fall for it.
View
Date:2025-04-13 08:48:09
I know you learned in school that socialism doesn't work. Apparently, Vice President Kamala Harris didn't.
But what do you know? You iPhone-carrying, Starbucks-sipping, freedom-loving American? Haven't you wondered what it would be like if your president gave away things for free? Things like a house? And groceries?
Enter Kamalanomics.
Hold on, it's a ride through utopia.
You get a house! And you get a house!
At a rally Friday in North Carolina, Harris, the Democratic nominee for president, unveiled a home ownership plan as part of her economic agenda, one designed to conveniently garner her the votes she needs to win this election without worrying about annoying details like how to pay the bills in the years ahead.
According to Harris' proposal, qualified homebuyers who have paid their rent on time for at least two years and are looking to buy their first home could be eligible for up to $25,000 in down payment assistance. First-generation home owners could receive even more.
It brings a whole new meaning to "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."
“The Biden-Harris administration initially proposed providing $25,000 in downpayment assistance only for 400,000 first-generation home buyers – or homebuyers whose parents don’t own a home – and a $10,000 tax credit for first-time home buyers,” a campaign fact sheet said. “Vice President Harris’s plan will simplify and significantly expand that plan by providing on average $25,000 for all eligible first-time home buyers, while ensuring full participation by first-generation home buyers.”
A free down payment? What a deal! But I have a few questions: Where will that money come from? What will it do to home prices? Wouldn't a line of new buyers with $25,000 on hand drive up the price of homes?
No thanks, Oprah. I mean, Kamala.
No tax on tips:What if I told you Kamala Harris' best idea is actually Donald Trump's?
Next up, price controls for groceries
We've all watched as inflation created a nightmare for Americans just trying to feed their families.
From 2017 through 2020, food prices increased by a total of 8.9%. From 2021 until this summer, the cost of groceries rose 21.6%. So $100 of ground beef, eggs, milk and bread, now costs more than $120.
Even after the rate of inflation slows, as it has now, the new, higher prices remain.
Harris has a cure for that: As a part of her economic plan, she would place a federal ban on price gouging for groceries. Her presidential campaign claims that she will set "clear rules of the road to make clear that big corporations can’t unfairly exploit consumers to run up excessive corporate profits on food and groceries.”
When I read that, I laughed. No one with a half-way functioning brain thinks that inflation, which caused high prices, at the local grocer is due to price gouging by corporations.
This is a lie from one of the oldest tricks in the book: Demonize companies for abiding by capitalistic principles and then propose reforms that throttle businesses by placing the government at the helm.
Of course, a federal ban on price gouging won't actually help Americans' finances. It won't slow down inflation or return food prices to what they were before the Biden administration's policies unleashed the surge in prices. Government controls could even lead to shortages or hoarding of some items.
I know Trump is awful.But he's still better for America than Harris.
An opinion headline at The Washington Post quips, "When your opponent calls you 'communist,' maybe don't propose price controls?" Writer Catherine Rampell, who is not exactly a raging conservative, obliterates Harris' policy plan, saying it would be "a sweeping set of government-enforced price controls across every industry, not only food. Supply and demand would no longer determine prices or profit levels. Far-off Washington bureaucrats would."
I think we should pass.
What's wrong with Kamalanomics?
Let's be real: What's wrong with giving a hardworking family who wants to be homeowners money for a down payment? What's wrong with describing inflation as "price gouging" and forcing companies to keep prices at a rate set by Washington? What's wrong with giving a $6,000 tax credit for a family with a newborn? (I favor some child tax credit scenarios, as long as they don't become welfare programs.)
Most of these are ideas rooted in a socialist approach to economics − one that's been shown over and over again to fail.
Harris' policy ideas stem from thinking that the government, not the people, is the most powerful entity in America. So the vice president has no problem with an economic agenda that expands government's reach and power and places burdensome restraints on the free market.
Voters should reject Harris' economic ideas. Instead, they should embrace ideas that aid the free market, encourage personal responsibility and cut taxes to help more Americans thrive.
Nicole Russell is an opinion columnist with USA TODAY. She lives in Texas with her four kids. Sign up for her newsletter, The Right Track, and get it delivered to your inbox.
veryGood! (28)
Related
- Are Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp down? Meta says most issues resolved after outages
- The Secret Service again faces scrutiny after another gunman targets Trump
- Caitlin Clark finishes regular season Thursday: How to watch Fever vs. Mystics
- Eagles' Nick Sirianni explains why he didn't address players following loss to Falcons
- What to watch: O Jolie night
- Inside the Brooklyn federal jail where Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs is locked up: violence, squalor and death
- Harvey Weinstein set to be arraigned on additional sex crimes charges in New York
- Father of Colorado supermarket gunman thought he could be possessed by an evil spirit
- Opinion: Gianni Infantino, FIFA sell souls and 2034 World Cup for Saudi Arabia's billions
- Edwin Moses documentary ’13 Steps’ shows how clearing the hurdles was the easy part for a track icon
Ranking
- Paris Hilton, Nicole Richie return for an 'Encore,' reminisce about 'The Simple Life'
- Jordan Chiles deserved Olympic bronze medal. And so much more
- Now a Roe advocate, woman raped by stepfather as a child tells her story in Harris campaign ad
- Vanderpump Rules’ Lala Kent Shares First Photo of Baby Girl Sosa's Face
- Which apps offer encrypted messaging? How to switch and what to know after feds’ warning
- Boy trapped between large boulders for 9 hours saved by New Hampshire firefighters
- For 'Agatha All Along' star Kathryn Hahn, having her own Marvel show is 'a fever dream'
- Longshoremen at key US ports threatening to strike over automation and pay
Recommendation
'Squid Game' without subtitles? Duolingo, Netflix encourage fans to learn Korean
For 'Agatha All Along' star Kathryn Hahn, having her own Marvel show is 'a fever dream'
Wheel of Fortune Contestant's Painful Mistake Costs Her $1 Million in Prize Money
Good American Blowout Deals: Khloe Kardashian-Approved Styles Up to 78% Off With $22 Dresses
Average rate on 30
NAACP president urges Missouri governor to halt execution planned for next week
Did You Know Earth Is Set to Have Another Moon in Its Orbit? Here's What That Means
Tito Jackson hospitalized for medical emergency prior to death