THE CEO of the largest Hispanic-owned food company in the US has blasted Kamala Harris’ economic proposals and warns that businesses will go bust.
Bob Unanue, the CEO of Goya Foods, believes the government should have no say in controlling grocery prices following Kamala Harris‘s plan to ban price gouging across the food industry.
Price gouging is when businesses hike prices on goods and services to an excessively high level typically in response to supply issues such as during the coronavirus pandemic.
As prices continue to rise on everyday essentials like milk, eggs, and bread, cash-strapped consumers are barely getting by.
While several states have already restricted such a practice, Harris is hoping to take it to the federal level as she said that despite a recent supply chain recovery, “Prices are still too high.”
The vice president discussed this plan in her first policy address as the official Democratic presidential nominee in North Carolina on Friday.
Part of her proposals that would take priority during her first 100 days in office, if elected in November, would include “going after the bad actors” in the food industry.
“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.
However, Bob Unanue slammed Kamala Harris for vowing to create an “opportunity economy” in the US.
“They’re using a nail gun to put the last nails in the coffin of this economy and this country,” Unanue told Fox News.
“From day one, they put in executive orders that set this country on a disastrous path,” he added, referring to the Biden-Harris administration.
A federal ban on price gouging would do little to fix inflation or stop rising prices at grocery stores, he claimed.
The CEO said that there are always issues when the government intervenes in the free market as he warned of businesses going bankrupt.
“We’re going to put [grocery stores] out of business by controlling pricing,” he said.
According to the supply chain chief, grocery stores typically “make a 1% to 2% profit margin” as is.
Unanue also believes that grocery stores, which “tend to hire a lot of people,” are more beneficial to the economy than not but by controlling pricing, many will fail.
CPI and Inflation explained
The Consumer Price Index is how the federal government measures inflation.
Every month, the Bureau of Labor Statistics shares its CPI numbers with detailed breakdowns of which items have changing prices.
The CPI shows the amount prices rose or fell over the previous 12 months.
The calculation process is complex, but measures the changes in price for urban consumers, those living or working in an American metropolitan area.
While that does not cover everyone, it measures prices for about 90% of the population.
Harris’ rival, Donald Trump, has also slammed her economic proposals as he made a bleak prediction for the country under her presidency.
“Rationing, hunger, and skyrocketing prices,” would occur under Harris, the former president claimed.
Meanwhile, the Harris hit back at Trump’s economic statements saying he has “no serious plans.”
While both candidates have pledged to bring down costs, their methods are different.
Though Trump has not yet laid out his economic plan like Harris, he has floated the idea of raising tariffs on imported goods, expanding on his 2017 tax cuts, and further reducing corporate tax.
Meanwhile, his vow to roll out “mass deportations” is likely to negatively affect the labor market.
Economists told CNN that an increase in immigration was key to helping the market recover from the pandemic and increase productivity which helped slow inflation.
They’re using a nail gun to put the last nails in the coffin of this economy and this country.
Bob Unanue
Chief economist at RSM US, Joe Brusuelas, told the outlet that both plans laid out by Trump and Harris will likely increase prices, but that Trump’s would do more damage.
“Both inflation and the risk to permanently higher inflation are greater with the Trump proposal,” he said of what Trump has said so far about his plans for the economy.
Analysis carried out by the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget revealed that the Republican’s idea to scrap taxes on social security benefits would cost up to $1.8 trillion through 2035.
Meanwhile, an analysis of Harris’ proposals suggested that she could raise deficits by $1.7 trillion over 10 years.
More analysis will be carried out when the proposals on both sides are more thoroughly laid out, especially regarding how the plans will be funded.
“Where we’re looking now, I think it’s likely that both campaigns are going to be in the red (fiscally) for their proposals,” Marc Goldwein, senior vice president and senior policy director for the CRFB, told CNN.
“Higher deficits in the near term means more inflationary pressures, which either means people are going to see more cost increases at the grocery store, the pump, in their houses, or it means the Federal Reserve is going to have to respond by cutting rates more slowly.”
The U.S. Sun has reached out to Goya Foods for comment.
