CNBC host criticizes Warren for defending price gouging ban

Joe Kernen, co-host of CNBC's “Squawk Box,” opposed a proposal to ban price gouging in a testy interview with Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts) on Friday, calling her arguments “deceptive” and “misleading.”

The Massachusetts senator – who worked with Harris on an anti-price gouging bill in 2020 and introduced similar legislation earlier this year – argued that states like Texas and Florida already had effective anti-price gouging bans in place.

“Price gouging laws are not price controls,” Warren said. “Price gouging laws mean that sometimes markets get out of hand and when they do, we have to find ways to get them back on track. We have to curb that behavior.”

Kernen questioned Warren about the details of a vague ban on price gouging supported by Vice President Harris.

He referred to an op-ed in the Washington Post titled “The time calls for serious economic ideas. Harris delivers gimmicks.”

“If you lose the Washington Post as a Democrat, you have serious problems,” Kernen said, arguing that artificial price controls would never work.

For example, if consumers think beef prices are too high, they won't switch to chicken – and there won't be competition selling beef at lower prices, he said.

“It's just a question of supply and demand,” said Kernen. “That's a wrong idea.”

“Where have you been for the last 30 years while three dozen states have anti-price gouging laws and are enforcing them effectively?” Warren replied.

“That's how you never lose a debate,” Kernen said. “Because no one can say anything to you, Senator, and that's frustrating.”

Warren said prices skyrocketed during the pandemic and then rose again during the Russia-Ukraine conflict due to “supply chain bottlenecks.”

The result is that companies are taking the opportunity to raise their prices higher than necessary and thus increase their profit margins, she argued.

Harris has come under fire for her proposal to ban gouging prices, with some business leaders warning it could reignite inflation and former President Donald Trump calling her “communist through and through.”

“These are not random isolated incidents,” Warren said. “That's part of the problem when you have companies that are ripping off consumers with prices. Consumers need to know they have someone on their side.”

Warren cited as an example the controversy surrounding egg producer Cal-Maine, one of several major egg suppliers hit by a lawsuit from Kraft, General Mills and other food companies, accusing them of artificially inflating prices to manipulate the egg market.

“Their profit margins increased by 718%. That's not just passed-on costs.”

Warren and Kernen interrupted each other before the CNBC host attacked Warren's argument.

“That's sophistry,” Kernen replied. “Kraft, you say, was a profit increase of 440%.”

“The example you gave is the year-ago quarter. They had a $1.3 billion charge, an accounting change that wiped out earnings. Then they earned what they – let me finish now,” Kernen said before being interrupted by Warren.

“You didn't let me finish,” Warren said. “Look at the data. We now have one economic study after another.”

Visibly frustrated, Kernen said: “That's how it always goes. Senator, 40 million eggs because of bird flu.”

The 40 million eggs thrown away are a reference to major egg supplier Cal-Maine, which announced in April that an outbreak of bird flu had been detected at one of its Texas plants, resulting in the culling of 1.6 million laying hens and 337,000 pullets.

Kernen apparently argued that the significantly different profit margins could be explained by supply shortages caused by bird flu.