Anne Interview The dispute between Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and CNBC host Joe Kernen escalated on Friday morning, as the two sparred over Vice President Harris’ recent pledge to ban price gouging if elected in November.
Harris last week unveiled an economic plan that includes a proposed ban that would give the Federal Trade Commission the power to investigate companies that raise prices during periods of high inflation.
“This could be another tool in the toolbox,” Warren said of the proposal, before Kernen interjected.
“Senator, how does this policy accomplish that?” he asked.
Warren responded, “I finished your debate and then you called me out here to lecture me?”
“The key is to create a more competitive marketplace,” she continued. “That’s the FTC’s job. That’s something state attorneys general should be working on.”
“At a time when CEOs are on the phone saying, ‘Inflation is great because it’s an opportunity to increase profits,’ we just want to add another tool to the toolbox,” the senator added.
Responding to Warren’s claims, Kernen called Harris’ proposal a “fool’s errand” and an attempt to distract voters from the “real causes of inflation,” such as supply chain issues and demand that is being “stimulated” by stimulus bills like the Combat Inflation Act of 2022.
“You always say ‘help’ but aren’t you just trying to distract from the real issues that might actually help the middle class?” he added.
Harris’ proposal comes amid concerns that Democrats are vulnerable to inflation attacks after grocery store prices rose more than 20% under Biden, with much of the increase tied to supply chain disruptions exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The proposal is part of a larger effort to lower grocery costs as Americans continue to face inflation that peaked at 9% in June 2022. Inflation fell below 3% in August for the first time since March 2021.
During the show, Kernen also argued that there is “little evidence” that price gouging is linked to the surge in inflation since the pandemic, and called on the Massachusetts senator to provide evidence to back up the vice president’s claim.
Warren, who lost the 2020 presidential election, said in an earnings call in The CEOs argued that the pandemic and resulting spike in inflation was an opportunity to raise prices — a claim she has previously criticized companies including Tyson, Kroger and Chipotle for making.
The senator also Citing the report The progressive advocacy group Groundwork Collaborative concluded that a significant portion of inflation is driven by corporate price hikes.
Curnen dismissed the report, saying it came from a “liberal think tank.”
“If you don’t want to pay attention to the numbers, just ignore them,” Warren responded. “You can ignore the calls, but the reality is the American people know what’s going on with pricing.”
The CNBC host also pressed the Bay State Democrat on the effectiveness of the proposal, given that inflation and prices appear to be falling.
“It’s not at all clear that prices have gone down. Many companies in highly concentrated industries have raised prices and are now making much bigger profits than they were before,” she said.
The economists, I discussed the merits of this proposal with Moody’s Chief Economist Mark Zandi.Saying that“Aggressive or unfair pricing practices areA “list of reasons” for high inflation.
Former President Donald Trump, some business leaders and other Republicans have denounced Harris’ proposal as an attempt to impose “socialist price controls.”
“Kamala Harris is a Trojan Horse for nation-destroying spending, communist price controls and open borders,” the Trump campaign said in a statement this week.
Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman rejected the claim that the proposal requires price controls.
“Many credulous commentators, not just on the right, have criticized Harris for advocating price controls and calling her a [former President] “The next Richard Nixon, the next Nicolas Maduro,” Krugman said. I wrote in a column From the New York Times.
“This is a populist political gesture. Voters are angry “We are concerned about rising food prices, but just because something is popular doesn’t mean it’s a bad idea,” he added.
