Kamala Harris Finally Addresses Reporters, Rambles Vaguely
Vice President Kamala Harris addressed reporters before the Democratic National Convention, discussing her economic plan, which has faced criticism for being reminiscent of policies from Venezuela and the Soviet Union.
Her proposals include a price-fixing plan allowing the FTC and state attorneys general to impose fines on grocery chains for high prices, a $25,000 payment for first-time homebuyers, and forgiveness of medical debt for loyal Democratic voters.
During her remarks, Harris provided vague responses about funding and implementation, citing the benefits of tax credits and claiming a 50% reduction in child poverty without specifics.
“You unveiled your economic policies last week. Can you explain how you’re going to pay for those, and can you give me an example of what other policies you want to unveil next?” one reporter asked.
“Well, I mean, you just look at it in terms of what we are talking about, for example, around children, and the child tax credit, and extending the EITC. That is at $6,000 for the first year of a child’s life. The return on that investment, in terms of what that will do and what it will pay for will be tremendous,” Harris said
“And then what we’re doing in terms of the tax credits, we know that there’s a great return on investment. And when we increase homeownership in America, what that means in terms of increasing the tax base, not to mention property tax base, what that does to fund schools, again, return on investment,” Harris added.
“I think it’s a mistake for any person who talks about public policy to not critically evaluate how you measure the return on investment. When you are strengthening neighborhoods, strengthening communities, and in particular the economy of those communities, and investing in a broad-based economy, everybody benefits, and it pays for itself.”
Her plan has drawn criticism from various economists, including Harvard’s Jason Forman, who called it “not sensible.”
“This is not sensible policy, and I think the biggest hope is that it ends up being a lot of rhetoric and no reality,” Harvard economist Jason Forman said. “There’s no upside here, and there is some downside.”
Former President Donald Trump also condemned her proposals, likening them to “communist price controls” and asserting they would lead to negative economic consequences.
“Now, Kamala is reportedly proposing communist price controls. She wants price controls. And if they worked, I’d go along with it too. But they don’t work. They actually have the exact opposite impact and effect. But it leads to food shortages, rationing, hunger, dramatically more inflation. Their Inflation Reduction Act, by the way, was a disaster. It’s what caused the inflation. Their Inflation Reduction Act was a con job,” Trump said.
“I said, that’s going to cause tremendous inflation, and it did, among other things, like energy. She’s running on the Maduro plan. We call it the Maduro plan, like something straight out of Venezuela or the Soviet Union.”