Let's get the local North Carolina view on Kamala's Harris' economic proposals in her speech made in Raleigh on Friday. I bolded portions below to show the actions State A.G. Josh Stein has taken in coordination with other states to stop collusion in the meat industry via Agri Stats and other methods to anti-competitively raise prices for meat. Note this is the same industry that demanded multi-year government price controls on animal feed while at the same time they were colluding to charge the highest prices possible to consumers. The stopping of this type of collusion and anti-competitive behavior should not be left up to the states; this is an area where the federal government should take the lead. In Raleigh, Harris unveils economic plans to give Americans 'a real chance to succeed' Vice President Kamala Harris drilled down on the meat industry, which has a major presence in North Carolina and which she blames for rising grocery bills. The speech comes on the heels of an Asheville speech by Republican Donald Trump, who has taken aim at the Biden administration's role in inflation. https://www.wral.com/story/in-ralei...-americans-a-real-chance-to-succeed/21579414/ Vice President Kamala Harris used her speech in Raleigh Friday to propose economic policies she’d push for if elected president — including a federal ban on corporate price gouging — as she fights off attacks from Republicans over inflation. The rising cost of goods continues to be top of mind for voters. Many of them blame President Joe Biden’s administration. Harris’ speech launching a new economic platform at Wake Technical Community College's north Raleigh campus will likely be closely analyzed by national economists, political insiders and others. The economy is the most important issue to most voters, recent polling shows. “Together we will build what I call an ‘opportunity economy,’” Haris said. “An economy where everyone can have a real chance to succeed, no matter who they are. … Your salary should be enough to provide you and your family with a good quality of life. No child should have to grow up in poverty. After years of hard work, you should be able to retire with dignity. And you should be able to join a union, if you choose.” The speech caps a week of presidential campaign attention in this battleground state, which Republican candidate Donald Trump won in 2016 and 2020. The former president, who regularly attacks Biden and Harris for higher prices of goods, was in Asheville on Wednesday talking about his own economic platform. "It's hard to overstate how disastrous of an idea it is to let D.C. bureaucrats dictate the price of groceries in cities, suburbs, and rural communities across the country," Trump's campaign wrote in a news release ahead of Harris' speech. Harris referenced Trump's event in Asheville during her speech. “He said he was going to talk about the economy,” Harris said of Trump. “But he offered no serious plans to reduce costs for middle class families. No plan to expand access to housing or healthcare." She added: “And that, actually, I think for most of us, was not surprising.” Price gouging complaints have long been the domain of state attorneys general, a role Harris held in California before her ascent in national politics. Bringing it to the federal level would allow broader, more nationally focused enforcement — an idea likely to be embraced by consumer protection advocates but which could face stiff opposition from business interests. Harris focused Friday on the need to crack down on the meat industry, which she blames on people’s rising grocery bills. "Ground beef is up almost 50%," she said. "Many of the big food companies are seeing their highest profits in two decades. And while many grocery chains pass along these savings, others still aren’t.” Harris appealed directly to North Carolina's suburban voters, an influential demographic in statewide elections. Some of what she proposed Friday includes: Restoring the child tax credit that once offered up to $3,600 per child for middle class families, as well as a new tax credit of up to $6,000 for families with a child under 1-year-old. "The costs can really add up for young parents who need to buy diapers, and a car seat, and so much else," she said. New tax cuts of up to $1,500 for people working lower-wage jobs. A plan to cut costs for people signing up for health insurance plans through the Affordable Care Act. Giving first-time homebuyers a $25,000 credit toward their down-payment — a move critics say would increase the price of housing, but which Harris said should make homes more attainable. "Now is the time to chart a new way forward," Harris said, as the crowd broke out in chants of "New way forward." Republicans quickly attacked Harris' proposal to crack down on price-gouging, particularly in the food industry. Michael Whatley, chair of the Republican National Committee, said government interference in the economy — whether through spending bills or price control regulations — could send prices soaring. At a press conference in Knightdale prior to Harris' speech. Whatley said Harris' proposals are misguided. "If you take a look at grocery stores right now, their profit line of about 1.2% is way below the average business's," Whatley said, addressing the media from a barbecue restaurant's patio. "There is no price gouging. Food costs more to go into the grocery store, (so) the grocery stores have to charge more," Whatley said. "We're seeing that in restaurants all across the country as well." Harris hit back at Republican critics during her speech, comparing Trump-proposed tariffs to "in effect, a national sales tax on everyday products and basic necessities that we import from other countries." "That will devastate Americans," Harris said. Meat a top NC export Her proposed changes could have an impact not just for shoppers in North Carolina, but for farmers as well. North Carolina is the biggest poultry and egg producer in the U.S., and it ranks second nationally in farming pigs, turkeys and trout. Meat processing plants also dot the state, in addition to the 45,000 farms where owners often contract with big corporations to raise food on their behalf. Federal data shows North Carolina chicken farms sold $4.8 billion worth of poultry and eggs in 2019 — a figure that had nearly doubled three years later, to $8.8 billion in 2022. Pork receipts statewide similarly rose from $2.2 billion to $3.1 billion between 2019 and 2022. “We all know that prices went up during the pandemic when supply chains failed,” Harris said. But she added that supply chains have been fixed for years, yet the companies never dropped their prices back down. “That’s just not right, and we need to take action when that is the case,” she said. In eyeing the industry for its inflated prices, Harris has an ally in North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein, the Democratic Party’s nominee for governor this year. Last year Stein had North Carolina join the Biden administration and a bipartisan coalition of six states, including California and Texas, in suing the company Agri Stats — alleging its technology helps meat companies collude to keep prices high, rather than engaging in free-market competition with one another that could lead to lower prices. “With people struggling to afford their groceries, it’s unacceptable that Agri Stats would inflate the price of chicken, pork, and turkey through its alleged anticompetitive and unlawful acts,” Stein wrote in a news release at the time. The company, which has been named in other similar lawsuits in recent years, has denied wrongdoing and has called the allegations baseless. Stein spoke at Harris’ Friday event, bragging on North Carolina’s economic and population growth but warning that too many people still struggle to pay their bills even despite that growth. “We must make sure that corporations are not taking advantage of our people,” Stein said, citing his own lawsuits as attorney general against opioid companies, energy companies, housing companies, towing companies and agricultural companies. Stein also recently brought North Carolina into a group of 31 states banding together to fight what his office called “anticompetitive practices in the agriculture industry that raise prices and limit choices for customers and producers.” Harris’ plan will suggest that such efforts shouldn’t need to depend on individual states, and that the federal government should take a greater role in looking into allegations of collusion, price-gouging, price-fixing and unfair mergers in various industries, including agriculture. North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, Stein's Republican opponent in the gubernatorial race, railed against "the weaponization of government" during Trump's event in Asheville Wednesday. "It does not jive with being able to have a good economy," Robinson said. "Why? Because people should be able to work and earn a living and run a business without fear of reprisal from their own government." Economists like some inflation In Asheville Wednesday, Trump slammed Biden and Harris alike on inflation. He also proposed two new tax cuts if he should win: No taxes on tips, and no taxes on Social Security benefits. Harris has also said she backs the idea of not taxing tips, but the two disagree on taxes for Social Security. Most Americans already pay no federal taxes on Social Security benefits, so the change would primarily help wealthy retirees. North Carolina State University economics professor emeritus Mike Walden told WRAL that having some inflation is the sign of a healthy economy — but too much inflation is obviously not what consumers want to see. “Prices are always going up,” Walden said. “The only time we saw a little bit of a dip into the negative was in early 2009. We all know what happened then: A terrible recession.” The ideal inflation rate economists like to see, he said, is around 2%. Under Biden, the inflation rate went as high as 9.1% in June 2022. A year ago, in August 2023, inflation was at 3.7%. It was at 3% this June, and dropped further to 2.9% last month. So Walden said it’s clearly heading in the right direction — which is good news politically for Biden and, by extension, Harris — but that it’s also understandable for voters to still feel financially squeezed, even though the numbers are improving. “We're obviously headed to that magic 2%,” he said. “But people are still behind, in terms of the fact that their incomes have not kept up with higher prices.”
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