The Goya Foods CEO has slammed Vice President Kamala Harris‘ economic proposals, claiming that the government has ‘no business’ controlling grocery prices.
Bob Unanue, who heads the largest Hispanic-owned food company in the US, said that grocery businesses would go bust under her proposals.
On Friday, Harris gave her first policy address as the Democratic presidential nominee, where she vowed to create an ‘opportunity economy.’
This included a federal ban on price gouging across the food industry. This is when retailers sharply increase the price of necessities – typically to take advantage of an adverse situation such as the Covid-19 pandemic.
But Unanue told Fox News that the proposals were putting the ‘last nails in the coffin of this economy and this country.’ From day one, the Biden-Harris administration has ‘started a war’ against the middle class, he said.
Bob Unanue, who heads the largest Hispanic-owned food company in the US, said that grocery businesses would go bust under Harris’ proposals
Unanue, who spoke at the Republican National Convention earlier this year, told the outlet: ‘They’re using a nail gun to put the last nails in the coffin of this economy and this country.
‘From day one, they put in executive orders that set this country on a disastrous path.’
During her address last week, Harris said that the cost of food soared during the pandemic when supply chains shut down and failed.
But while supply chains have improved, prices are still too high, the Vice President said.
Unanue told Fox News that there are always problems if the government gets in the way of the free market, and this would not help inflationary prices.
He said: ‘You know, when I was a kid, if you had a lemonade stand and it cost $0.10 for the glass, the straw, the product to go to the store to get it, and then the government comes along and says, I want you to sell that lemonade for a penny.
‘You know, you just got to fold up your lemonade stand and go home.’
He added that grocery businesses tend to make a 1 to 2 percent profit margin, and hire a lot of people.
‘We’re going to put them out of business by controlling pricing,’ he said.
Former President Donald Trump also slammed the economic plans, claiming that controlling grocery prices would lead to ‘rationing, hunger and skyrocketing prices.’
Economists are divided about the potential impact of Harris’ proposals.
Some claim actions taken to attempt to combat price-gouging can actually make the problem worse.
On Friday, Harris gave her first policy address as the Democratic presidential nominee , where she vowed to create an ‘opportunity economy’
Gavin Roberts, the chair of Weber State University’s economics department, told CNN that when prices are high, the best policy action to take is doing nothing.
This would cause consumers who are deterred by, say, high prices of beef, to instead purchase another type of meat or an alternative protein.
In turn, this helps keep beef on the grocery store shelves for people who want it enough to pay the higher prices, he said.
He added that the policy would not help the food industry become more competitive.
‘It’s more likely to maintain that status quo,’ he told the outlet.
This is because it would keep new competition from moving in to take advantage of the bigger profit margins, which is competition that could have helped lower prices in the long run.
But others have applauded the proposals.
Lindsay Owens, executive director of think tank Groundwork Collaborative, told CNN that it would give government agencies more authority to ‘crack down on bad actors’ charging Americans higher prices.
‘It’s good to see this aggressive approach,’ she said.
