Vice President Kamala Harris’ sunshine and optimism is erasing the polling gap in the November election. She has some surprising momentum, perhaps the benefit of running against a grumpy old man in former President Donald Trump, whose message too often denigrates Harris and others and warns that the country is going to hell in so many ways.
Harris has been criticized for not giving interviews or holding a press conference, and also for spending almost no time talking about specific things she would do if elected. She may have sensed that, for now, it’s better to speak in uplifting platitudes, and give her this much — so far that strategy has worked.
Maybe some policy ideas will come out during this week’s Democratic National Convention. But if they do, they need to be better than what she released a few days ago.
The Washington Post editorial board, which is certain to endorse Harris, was unimpressed. “Instead of delivering a substantial plan, she squandered the moment on populist gimmicks,” the paper’s opinion page lamented.
By far her worst idea was empowering the Federal Trade Commission to enforce a ban on price gouging. Harris said grocery stores were among the companies her administration would monitor.
Someone needs to show her that groceries typically run a profit margin (what’s left of revenue after costs) of 1% to 4%. That slim profit doesn’t sound like a lot of price gouging is going on. It’s also worth pointing out that the grocery business is an extremely competitive one. That’s not an environment that encourages overcharging.
It is true that inflation has been high since President Biden took office in 2021. Wages have risen by 17% during that time, according to federal statistics, but gasoline, electricity and groceries — the staples of American life — are up by a lot more than that.
The impulse to “do something” is understandable. However, that something has already been done. The Federal Reserve raised interest rates several times when inflation heated up, and it worked. The more expensive borrowing costs have reduced the rate of inflation. But nobody should expect prices to return to what they were five years ago.
The vice president’s other ideas are a little better. She wants to offer tax incentives to get 3 million new homes built in the next four years, which would address the housing supply problem that has fed the increase in home prices. But, as the Post noted, her proposal to provide up to $25,000 in down-payment assistance to first-time buyers might send prices upward.
She also wants to increase the child tax credit to $3,600 from the current $2,000; extend tax breaks to help people buy health insurance on the Affordable Care Act marketplace; and cap out-of-pocket medicine spending at $2,000 for everyone.
These sound interesting, but be aware that they fail the budget test — not that anyone in power in Washington is concerned about that.
The nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget estimated that such proposals by Harris would increase deficits by an average of $170 billion a year for a decade.
In fairness, the Post noted that virtually every presidential candidate makes expensive promises that never happen. They’re trying to win votes now and handle the details later.
Still, at some point between now and November, more voters are going want to know what’s in it for them if they vote for Harris. Sunshine and optimism will only get her so far.
