NBC News anchor Kristen Welker grilled Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, D-Mich., about Vice President Harris' price control plan, asking point-blank whether the policy proposal was anything more than a “gimmick.”
Citing criticism from Jason Furman, a former economic adviser in President Obama's administration, Welker questioned whether Whitmer believed it was the best way to lower prices in Michigan.
“I think people are reading too much into what's been said. We know that Kamala Harris is going to be focused on building more affordable housing,” Whitmer said. “I think this opportunity economy that Vice President Harris is talking about and laying out the outlines of shows that we really do. She sees all Americans, she understands what people are struggling with, and she wants to help them keep more money in their pockets,” Whitmer responded.
Harris' campaign announced Wednesday that as president, she would institute a federal corporate pricing scheme to prevent “big corporations” from taking advantage of consumers.
NBC's Kristen Welker pressed Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on Sunday about Vice President Harris' price-fixing plan. (Screenshot/NBC/MeetThePress)
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“Governor, I hear you saying that people are reading too much into the lines, and yet this is what the vice president is proposing,” Welker said. “Former President Trump has called the policies communist. The Washington Post editorial board has called them a gimmick. Is this plan to ban price gouging anything more than a gimmick, Governor?”
“I think it speaks to Kamala Harris' values, that she wants consumers to have more money in their pockets. She wants hard-working Americans to be able to get ahead,” Whitmer responded. “She wants to make sure that there is corporate responsibility. We know that we have to have business growth in this country.”
Welker again asked if he thought it was “smart policy.”
“I think any effort we make to keep more money in the pockets of Americans is worth going down the road and having the necessary conversations, and figuring out how we can make this economy work for everyone,” Whitmer responded.
U.S. Democratic presidential candidate and Vice President Kamala Harris speaks about her policy platform, which includes improving the cost of living for all Americans and lowering costs for middle-class families at the Hendrick Center for Automotive Excellence in Raleigh, North Carolina, August 16, 2024. (Peter Zay/Anadolu via Getty Images)
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Furman told The New York Times on Friday that the plan was not smart policy.
“This is not a sensible policy and I think the best hope is that it ends up being all rhetoric and no reality,” Furman said. “There are no advantages to this, but there are some disadvantages.”
Harris' campaign announced Wednesday that as president, she would institute a federal corporate pricing scheme to prevent “big corporations” from taking advantage of consumers.
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Liberal Washington Post columnist Catherine Rampell also criticized Harris' plan, writing Friday: “It's hard to overstate how bad this policy is.”
“This is, in all but name, a broad set of government-imposed price controls on all industries, not just the food industry. Supply and demand would no longer determine prices and profit levels. Bureaucrats in far-flung Washington would. The FTC could tell, say, a Kroger in Ohio what an acceptable price it could charge for milk,” Rampell wrote.
