Staff Reports
The ongoing political circus in Washington gets even more absurd as Vice President Kamala Harris, under the blissful protection of sympathetic media, re-emerges to take a swing at crafting her economic platform. Her strategy seems to involve pilfering the half-baked ideas of her predecessors and rivals rather than forging her original path. With the scrutiny of a three-legged dog, Harris has cowed her way through a campaign season that barely resembles genuine political engagement, instead sticking to the shadows like a night-time burglar.
Attempting to shake off the dust from her unsuccessful 2020 presidential campaign, Harris has seemingly forgotten her bold past proposals like nationalizing vast swathes of the economy and banning fracking. Instead, she has found herself entrenched in the archives of political history, borrowing failed tactics from notable figures like Richard Nixon. What better way to combat the current inflation crisis than by resurrecting price controls—the economic equivalent of using duct tape to fix a sinking ship? It’s a bold choice, one that nonetheless echoes a past replete with disaster.
.@KamalaHarris’s inflation ‘solution’: Nixon’s price controls and Trump’s tax policy
| @TianaTheFirst https://t.co/crOQ0nh7Kv
— Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) August 16, 2024
In a curious maneuver reminiscent of a clown car, Harris has not only looked to Nixon’s playbook but has decided to snatch ideas from her political opponents, specifically Donald Trump and Senator J.D. Vance. Trump’s proposal to exempt tips from personal income tax for service workers is now being claimed as her innovative solution. While it’s not unusual for politicians to borrow ideas, one must wonder why Harris doesn’t mention her own administration’s flammable IRS plans to squeeze more money from those same workers. The contradiction here is as rich as a heavy cream sauce, given that Harris’s policy agenda threatens to raise taxes even higher just as she tries to embrace new (and borrowed) tax cuts.
Not to be outdone, shortly after Vance suggested a $5,000 child tax credit, Harris countered with a bold and ridiculous $6,000 version. This raises questions not only about creativity but also about fiscal responsibility. Her funding would need to come from somewhere, and it’s doubtful that the wealth fairy will sprinkle gold coins over her ambitious plans. More likely, the money would come from the same taxpayers she seems hell-bent on fleecing.
When faced with the fallout of her inflationary policies—driven partly by the Biden administration’s absurd fiscal irresponsibility—Harris has opted for the old Nixon playbook with its dubious price controls. Her proposed grocery price freeze, a rehash of Elizabeth Warren’s earlier ideas, hints at a fundamental misunderstanding of economics. One cannot simply wave a magic wand and wish inflation away; that only leads to shortages and the kind of economic turmoil that leaves families scrambling for essentials.
Despite the seeming confidence in her price freeze plan, grocery stores—operating on razor-thin profit margins that could make a pencil look hefty—are hardly the cause of inflation woes. With prices inching up at rates far less than those seen in the energy and hospitality sectors, it’s evident that Harris’s economic blueprint is less about genuine concern for consumers and more about a desperate grasp for fading voter approval. If her strategy is to wring any sort of sympathy from the kitchen tables of American families, she would do well to consider that history rarely repeats with a favorable outcome for the whims of radical leftists.
