Do You Think Price Gouging is Real? No. But Neither Do Democrats, Really

It has been one of the key issues touted by the Kamala Harris campaign that she wants to propose a ban on price gouging, especially when it comes to food prices, laying down the claim that grocers have been taking advantage of customers by keeping prices artificially high.

There are two issues here with this. For one, price gouging is not happening and is not the cause of higher grocery bills. For two, it's a theory that, whether true or not, resonates with a good number of people. Especially Democrat voters who tend to view big business as greedy and corrupt.

What it should tell voters is that the administration Harris is a part of does not want to accept blame for inflation, which their policies are clearly responsible for, and thus, without acknowledging the real problem, going forward they cannot adequately address fixing the problem.

Granted, it may not matter. Inflation is coming down. The whole thing, in the end, may simply be no more than a moot point and a campaign talking point.

But the reality is that even most Democrats either don't think the claim is true or have no confidence that even if an attempt was made to institute a ban that it would ever get anywhere in Congress. It is doubtful that even Harris is all that serious about the claim.

She has to know it's not true.

The one thing that remains to be true, and is a key consideration here, about the grocery industry, and this has not changed at all since inflation began to rear its ugly head, is that grocers run on razor-thin margins of anywhere between 1%-3%. If price gouging were happening, those margins would be higher than normal. But they're not.

The bottom line is that prices have gone up because the cost of bringing them to market has gone up. From raw materials to the cost of manufacturing and higher labor costs, to higher transport costs—that's what behind the higher prices.

First of all, in order to make a ban on gouging even worth doing is you have to prove it is occurring. Once you scour a balance sheet it will be clear it isn't happening, and again, the whole idea becomes moot.

You can't impose a ban on something that doesn't exist, and therefore, even if a ban was in place, it would do nothing to lower prices.

And where are these record profits? Maybe grocer's bottom lines have been boosted a bit. But in lock step with inflation? Not hardly. According to the USDA, food prices between 2019-2023 have risen by 25%, yet at the same time grocer's profits have only risen by 6%. That's hardly a rout against the consumer.

What is the whole idea, really? It is a deflection. Harris knows inflation has angered voters across all aisles, and she doesn't want the blame for it. If she can convince voters it's the evil, nasty corporations causing the problem she can maybe get a pass on the whole thing.

Ultimately, not only is the idea dead on arrival, but any plans also to make a ban possible are as well. It's a lie. It's smoke and mirrors. It's a passing of the buck. She knows it, and so do the Democrats as a whole. 

Passing a price gouging ban stands no chance of ever seeing the light of day.

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© 2024 Jim Bauer