Harris' policies are driving up food prices from farm to fork

As I watched Vice President Kamala Harris propose her “nationwide ban on corporate price gouging” in the food and grocery industries, I was reminded of an arsonist standing next to a burning inferno, ignoring her own role in the fire.

Harris appears to be trying to promote reforms as a semi-incumbent, and her proposal is less about offering a realistic solution and more about diverting blame from her role in causing high prices.

The fact is that even if inflation (the rate where prices are rising) has fallen from its all-time high during the Biden-Harris administration, Prices do not go under.

In any inflationary cycle, prices tend to be “sticky,” often prolonging the economic hardship of families. The damage is done – and simply stabilizing the inflation rate will not undo it. Because there is more to the problem than just inflation; the high prices Americans are suffering today are the culmination of Harris's numerous failed policies.

What's more, the consumer price index – the yardstick Democrats have been relying on lately to claim inflation is down – doesn't even take into account the costs that really hit families in the Biden-Harris economy: food and fuel.

Let's start with diesel. The retail price for a gallon of diesel fuel, which powers much of our economy (and many of the cars and trucks that families use every day), was $2.72 in January 2021. Today, three and a half years after Joe Biden and Kamala Harris took office, it's about $3.73—a 37% increase.

While the price of diesel has fallen slightly from last year's price of $4.35, it is wrong to assume that families are not still feeling the shock – especially the price spikes caused by the poor policies of the Biden-Harris administration.

These price spikes are actually the reason for the exploding food prices, because diesel fuel is needed at every step of the process from producer to consumer. Tractors need diesel; when diesel becomes more expensive, food becomes more expensive too.

Livestock feed requires additional diesel because it is an industrial process that must be completed before the livestock can be fed. Grain must be harvested, transported, treated and distributed to farmers.

“When we buy loose beef cubes, we only see a 30 to 35 percent increase, but when we buy bagged cubes, the price almost doubles,” West Texas rancher Ann Mitchell explained recently. “From a farming perspective, it takes a lot more to make the business work right now. And we're not seeing much change in the selling prices for our cattle. That's cutting into our margins more and more.”

This is not price gouging, but the inevitable result of the energy war of the Biden-Harris administration.

The same applies to the high electricity prices.

“Electricity prices have risen 29.4% since January 2021 — 50% more than general inflation — 13 times faster than in the past seven years, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics data,” notes the New York Post. “Electricity prices rose just 5% in the seven years before Biden took office.”

It's the same for businesses. When electricity costs go up, grocery stores pay more to keep our milk cool. When their costs go up, ours go up too.

Not only would Harris' price controls fail to address the “root causes” of inflation (massive government spending through the Orwellian Anti-Inflation Act), they would actually make things worse. The unintended consequences, as the New York Post notes, would be “black markets, panic buying, less competition… and higher inflation.”

USA Today columnist Ingrid Jacques says, “Trump's 'Comrade Kamala' insult is a bit over the top, but price controls are a terrible idea.”

Americans are not letting this get us down; we know that our households and bank accounts have not yet recovered from the heavy-handed economic policies of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.

The Democrats, who portray themselves as populists, are one day late – and do not have enough money.

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