‘The biggest hope is that it ends up being a lot of rhetoric and no reality,’ Jason Furman said

By Kristine Parks Fox News

Published August 16, 2024 3:47pm EDT

Kamala Harris facing backlash for ‘cost-capping’ price controls to curb inflation

Former White House press secretary Ari Fleischer on Kamala Harris’ economic ideas facing backlash as more voters trust Trump on the economy according to a recent poll.

A Harvard economist who worked in President Obama’s administration ripped Vice President Kamala Harris’ price control plan to curb inflation as not based in “reality.”

“This is not sensible policy, and I think the biggest hope is that it ends up being a lot of rhetoric and no reality,” Jason Furman told The New York Times in a report published Friday. “There’s no upside here, and there is some downside.”

The Harris campaign announced on Wednesday she would institute a federal price-fixing plan for corporations, as president, to stop “big corporations” from taking advantage of consumers.

“There’s a big difference between fair pricing in competitive markets and excessive prices unrelated to the costs of doing business,” the Harris campaign said in a statement. “Americans can see that difference in their grocery bills.”

LIBERAL WASHINGTON POST COLUMNIST SAYS HARRIS’ PRICE CONTROLS SOUND LIKE ‘COMMUNISM’

Democratic presidential candidate U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris will roll out her price control policy on Friday. ((Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images))

The proposal would give authority to the Federal Trade Commission and state attorneys general to impose harsh penalties on companies for setting excessively high prices.

However, some economists and financial experts have cast doubt on Harris’ plan, arguing that corporations don’t play a huge role in rising grocery prices.

Furman, the former National Economic Council chair under Obama, told the Times that policies like Harris’ are risky because they discourage new businesses from joining the market to meet consumer demand.

Other economists disagreed and praised Harris’ proposal to the Times.

DAVE RAMSEY EXPLAINS WHY KAMALA HARRIS’ PRICE CONTROL PLAN WILL NOT CURB INFLATION: ‘IT’S NOT SUSTAINABLE’

Personal finance expert Dave Ramsey and Obama economist Jason Furman suggested Harris’ price control plan wouldn’t work.(iStock)

Isabella Weber, an economist at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, argued Harris’ efforts to curb what she calls price gouging could help keep businesses accountable to consumers.

Weber told The Times that people may feel taken advantage of if corporations are thriving while “ordinary people” are enduring financial hardships. 

“Some sort of basic social contract is kind of crumpling,” she said.

Harris is slated to roll out the economic policy during her first formal policy speech of her presidential campaign in Raleigh, North Carolina on Friday. 

The Harris campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital. 

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP