Kevin O’Leary Slams Kamala Harris Policy as ‘Beyond Crazy’

Millionaire Shark Tank investor Kevin O’Leary slammed Vice President Kamala Harris’ price-fixing policy as “beyond crazy.”
The businessman expressed concerns with the Democratic front-runner’s proposal on Fox News’s Jesse Watters Primetime. Harris revealed a proposal last Friday that she said would ban price gouging at grocery stores as Americans continue to face high inflation on basic necessities.
“I’m an investor, so I have to work after election night with whoever is president, and I want them to be successful,” O’Leary said during the interview.
O’Leary said that, after reviewing Harris’s policy, he has several concerns about its actual impact on Americans.
“Every investor, including foreign investors, are hungry for information. So over the last 48 hours, what we’ve learned is the potential to take corporate taxes from 23 to 28 percent,” he said.
The increase would likely take America’s competitiveness in the global arena to the bottom level, O’Leary said.
“I’m sorry. I don’t want to be partisan,” O’Leary said. “That’s bad policy, whoever puts it out there. I don’t want to be pegged as pro or con Harris or Trump. I’m telling you I smell good or bad policy.”
O’Leary said that the U.S. government had already tried to fix prices during the 1970s, leading to widespread economic disarray.
“That’s beyond crazy,” O’Leary said. “Imagine America where there’s a ministry of pricing for groceries that tells a farmer what an apple can be sold for and what you can buy it for. That is a horror film for Netflix that no one’s even written the script for. That’s not America. There’s no chance in hell that’s going to happen.”
O’Leary added that price fixing was also a policy adopted in Venezuela, Cuba, North Korea and the Soviet Union.
“It just reduces supply like crazy,” O’Leary said. “It’s a really bad idea, and I’m not trying to be partisan.”
Newsweek reached out to the Harris campaign via email for comment.
Harris has proposed banning price gouging at grocery stores, saying in a statement released by her campaign: “Vice President Harris recognizes the significant difference between fair pricing and the excessive prices that Americans have seen in the food and grocery industry, prices that are unrelated to the costs of doing business.
“Soaring meat prices have accounted for a significant portion of Americans’ higher grocery bills, even as meat processing companies registered record-breaking profits following the pandemic.”
While overall inflation has fallen to 2.9 percent for the year ending in July, recent reports reveal grocery prices soared by 21 percent during President Joe Biden and Harris’ tenure.
Due to this, some view Harris’ plan as a ploy to appeal to voters concerned about her administration’s response to inflation.
“In the case of Vice President Harris’ price fixing plan, one could say more than likely it’s the thought that counts,” Alex Beene, a financial literacy instructor for the University of Tennessee at Martin, told Newsweek.
“Americans are angry about lingering higher prices on everyday items and are looking for any relief possible. Putting a limit on pricing from major corporations may sound fine in theory, but the legislative and legal reality points to this plan never coming to light.”
Beene said there are also concerns over how Harris’ proposal could be approved in practice.
“While the next administration could certainly help on economic activity like purchasing homes and making college more affordable, history tells us as much as it can hurt in the short term, it’s better in the long term to let the market lower prices naturally through less demand,” Beene said.
Grocery stores have been especially concerned about Harris’ plan, as they often operate on super-thin margins, ranging between 1 and 3 percent.
Harris has not publicly addressed the margins grocers operate on regarding her price-fixing plan, but she said some grocers are raising prices unfairly to make additional profits.
“A loaf of bread costs 50% more today than it did before the pandemic, and ground beef is up almost 50%,” Harris said last Friday. “Meanwhile, many big food companies are enjoying their highest profits in two decades, and while some grocery chains pass along savings, others still do not.”