8 months ago
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(NewsNation) — A long-held governmental truism has been that erstwhile the U.S. system is going well, the president mostly gets excessively overmuch credit, and erstwhile things aren’t going well, the president gets excessively overmuch blame.
But that hasn’t stopped presidents and statesmanlike candidates from claiming that their policies volition rapidly and efficaciously crook astir atrocious times. And the 2024 statesmanlike predetermination is nary exception.
Both erstwhile President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris have made promises and released proposals to amended the U.S. economy, particularly erstwhile it comes to nutrient prices. Here’s a look astatine immoderate of their astir salient positions, and however experts presumption the chances of those stands becoming reality.
Harris: Ban terms gouging
Harris has called connected Congress to walk a measure to prohibition terms gouging connected food, a connection precise adjacent to the measure that Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., introduced earlier this year. It would springiness the Federal Trade Commission and the states the powerfulness to penalize companies that usage their powerfulness to merchantability goods “at and excessive price.”
Warren’s measure would besides springiness the FTC the powerfulness to specify “excessive,” a determination that is bound to make partisan controversy. And, with a divided Congress, the Warren measure has small accidental of passing this year. Even if Harris wins, governmental experts judge that Republicans could power some houses of Congress adjacent year.
Trump: Impose tariffs connected nutrient imports
"Tariffs are the top happening ever invented,'' Trump said this earlier this month. As president, helium imposed tariffs with a flourish, targeting imported star panels, steel, aluminum and beauteous overmuch everything from China.
Trump insists that tariffs are paid for by overseas countries. In fact, it is importers – American companies – that wage tariffs, and the wealth goes to the U.S. Treasury. Those companies, successful turn, typically walk their higher costs connected to their customers successful the signifier of higher prices. That's wherefore economists accidental consumers usually extremity up footing the measure for tariffs.
As president, Trump enactment a 9% tariff connected imported washing machines, which hiked the user terms of washing machines by 9%, according to Justin Wolfers, an economics prof astatine the University of Michigan.
Harris: Antitrust enforcement
The Biden medication has taken enactment against what it calls “anticompetitive behavior” successful the nutrient industry, which it says has helped thrust up nutrient costs. The FTC is trying to stop the $25 cardinal merger of the 2 of the country’s biggest market store chains, Albertsons and Kroger. The Harris run has hired advisers who are tied to Biden’s moves, a awesome that Harris volition besides instrumentality an assertive antitrust stance.
It's been a agelong clip since the national authorities tried to interruption up monopolies. The 1936 Robinson-Patman Act, which bans suppliers from offering amended prices to its bigger customers astatine the disbursal of smaller competitors, is inactive connected the books but hasn’t been enforced for galore years. But economists accidental that, adjacent erstwhile antitrust enactment is successful, it would instrumentality a agelong clip to person an interaction connected retail nutrient prices.
Trump: Expand the home vigor supply
Trump has argued that little vigor costs would beryllium 1 of respective steps, on with lowering taxes and involvement rates, that would “quickly bring down prices” for everything, including food. He’s promised to o.k. much home lipid drilling, and to bring the terms of gasoline down to beneath $2 a gallon. He has said those moves would “bring down the terms of everything from energy rates to groceries, airfares, and lodging costs.”
The U.S. is already producing record amounts of lipid and gas, and the Biden medication has approved galore caller permits to drill connected national land. Economists accidental that, portion vigor costs figured successful each measurement of the nutrient proviso chain, it’s conscionable 1 of galore factors. Also, the U.S. authorities tin lone bash truthful overmuch to power state prices, which are mostly shaped by planetary authorities and marketplace factors.
Reality vs. perception
The experts, and galore years of history, suggest that U.S. presidents person precise small power to instantly power user prices for nutrient and different goods and services. But it looks similar astir of america judge otherwise.
An August survey conducted by the agriculture departments of Purdue University and the University of Illinois asked this question: Who bash you deliberation tin assistance little retail nutrient prices?
“We find that astir respondents thought that governmental parties could assistance little nutrient prices and market bills,” the survey authors wrote. “Perhaps not amazingly successful a polarized governmental environment, astir respondents who identified with 1 of the large parties thought that lone their enactment could little prices,” they added.
The survey of 1,000 adults astir the U.S. recovered that, among those who similar Trump, astir 65% judge that lone Republicans tin little nutrient prices. Among Harris supporters, 50% deliberation that lone Democrats tin execute the task.
