Harris Wants to Ban Price Gouging on Groceries: Clearly, She's Out of Touch with Reality

Is it just me, or is anyone else getting the passing of the buck on inflation that has been dealt time and time again by the Biden administration, and now Harris, as she campaigns following Biden dropping out of the race?

She wants to propose a federal ban on "corporate price gouging" on food and groceries if she is elected.

Sure, some grocers, namely meat packers, have enjoyed record profits. But is that a result of price gouging and greed? The fact is that inflation is here because of the policies that Joe Biden put into effect that caused prices on everything to skyrocket.

You can even pin the damn timeline!

Within hours of Biden taking his oath of office he signed executive orders reversing Trump's energy prices and in March of 2021 he signed the American Rescue Plan into law, and by December 2021 inflation jumped to 10% and has risen year over year since well beyond the desired 2% rate the Fed prefers.

This inflation is not because of corporate greed. It is because of Biden's policies, which presumably would become Harris' policies if she is elected. What it should tell voters is that her eye is not on the ball. If she won't admit responsibility for the inflation, how can we expect her to have the right ideas to solve the issue?

To my mind, it's just the wrong focus and someone needs to call her out on this, and hard and fast. Perhaps Trump will do that and lay out exactly why we have inflation, which is for reasons other than the now Harris campaign is trying to sell us on.

I think the silver lining is that most Americans do know where the real blame lies. Based on the polls, Trump is still winning handily on the economy. But the problem is that there are enough haters of the rich who will side with Harris and give her a pass and agree with her.

But it won't solve the problem, of course, because it doesn't get at the heart of the cause. Beyond that, this will only put more restraints on businesses to operate profitably and effectively, and who does that hurt?

It hurts the consumer, and it hurts the workers.

It hurts the consumer because if suddenly a business is accused of gouging, it's going to have to adjust the way it makes its products. Quality may be compromised as recipes are tweaked. Packaging may change to adjust for the accusation.

And of course, if businesses make less profits, they can't pass any of that along to workers in terms of benefits and wages—or even new job creation.

You don't encourage a strong economic environment by stifling growth and progress in business. You encourage it by fostering growth and progress. Beyond that, you have to first prove gouging is happening, and I question how on Earth you do that?

What measure will be used to determine what a fair price is and what isn't? What method will be determined to decide whether a profit is good or exaggerated? How do you tell a business, "This is how much you can legally make on this item?"

It's more dictation and control over things the government has no business controlling or even deciding, for that matter.

The thing is that Harris really has no plan to tackle inflation at all, but because inflation is still here and it's a major concern to Americans, she has to say something. She has to at least look like she is interested in doing something about it.

Even Biden said price gouging was happening. If they truly believed it was, they'd have already done something about it. They haven't because, of course, it is something that only lives in their imagination and they are hoping the American people will join them on their fantasy trip.

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© 2024 Jim Bauer

The Consumer Shift to Casual Dining Makes Sense

To me, it's just common sense that many consumers appear to be trending towards more casual dining options and ditching fast food. A trend that has many facets to it, I think. Beyond the ballooning prices at fast food places, fast food was also trending to be something it's not.

A dining experience.

Granted, that's been something fast food has been doing for quite some time now. But now it just makes less sense as a business strategy. Fast food is supposed to be, well...fast. But now when you order it takes more time to get your food.

It used to be that you'd place your order and walk away from the counter with a tray. Now you tend to get an order slip, or in the case of some fast food restaurants, you get a placard to be served at your table. It's also way more common to be directed out of the drive through lanes to a parking spot to wait for something.

Sorry folks, but that's not what fast food was ever supposed to be. 

Of course, they say they are aiming for better quality. If your order is made to order it will be hotter and fresher. But I have to tell you, for me, that's rarely true. I find the quality of the made to order food no better than how it was before. In fact, the faster food was actually better.

Let's face it. The chains did it to save money too. Ideally, if you miscalculate the burger drop on the grill, you might wind up throwing away more food. 

What people are doing now is weighing the differences. If the food costs as much as a sit down restaurant, and at the same time they'll wait about the same time for their food, why bother with fast food? 

My wife and I have marveled at the exorbitant prices of fast food lately. Not that we eat it that often. But there are periods when we tend to eat more of it—such as when we are coming back from camping trips or have more things going on during the summer that leave fewer dinner or lunch options.

We recently went to A&W and bought a double bacon cheeseburger, some hand-tossed chicken fingers and an order of fried cheese curds. That cost us around $32. On another trip, with just two Quarter Pounders and two large orders of fries, that ran about $24. And when we went to Hardees, we dropped about $28 on some onion rings, a chicken sandwich and a mushroom and Swiss burger.

We did not order drinks with any of these meals.

From purely an economic standpoint, we could have gone to Applebee's or Chili's or some other place and spent about the same amount, and probably would have spent about the same amount of time with presumably tastier menu options. 

And that's what consumers are doing. They are considering, "If I have to wait about the same time for my order and even if maybe I drop another $10, it's worth it."

The fact is that fast food was always the cheaper option. In fact, it was usually much cheaper. Quicker and cheaper. Those factors no longer exist. So therefore, consumers are shifting because they want a bigger bang for their buck, and fast food simply isn't offering that anymore.

Imagine the cost to a family of four making a simple, quick trip to McDonald's. That might cost over $100 easily. Why not go to a sit down restaurant instead? 

At the same time, I don't blame the fast food chains for some of the price increases. They are dealing with inflation just like everyone else is. On top of that, there's been a long and strong push to raise wages for employees, and as the old saying goes, money doesn't grow on trees. It has to come from somewhere, and where it is coming from are consumer's pockets.

What will be critical now for fast food chains is to become very creative in their approach. The consumer shift may be something that is long lasting, and if fast food wants their customers back, they are going to really have to dig in hard on what they can do to get them back.

One thing, in the short term, I think they will need to do, is going back to at least being fast food. Before, they were never really in direct competition with casual dining. But now they are. If they want to succeed, they need to separate themselves again and not only offer good food fast, but in an economical way.

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© 2024 Jim Bauer