Harris’ Big Plan For Price Controls: The Economy’s Next Big Disaster as a New Venezuela is being born!? (if she's elected!)
We’re finally getting some inkling of what the Democrats’ anointed presidential candidate Kamala Harris has in store for Americans when it comes to the economy. It’s not good. Indeed, it’s a disaster in the making, one that would set the U.S. economy back decades, destroy businesses, create shortages and lead to even higher prices.
Harris has a big problem. She’s the No. 2 official in an administration that many economists consider the worst in decades. How do you escape that? Of course, you deny it’s your fault, then promise radical, unworkable new policies to replace the old failed ones. The ol’ switcheroo when one considers the Biden/Harris Administration has had almost four years and have not done what they're now promising!!!
“Harris won’t say it this bluntly in public,” left-leaning Axios reported, “but her advisers do so privately: She wants to break with Biden on issues on which he’s unpopular. First up: rising prices. This is part of a highly choreographed effort to define herself — in some cases, redefine herself — as a different kind of Democrat.”
Well, she’s not too “different,” if by that you mean replacing obviously failed economic policies with even worse ones. Democrats do it all the time.
What remains of the Biden administration is in no mood to accommodate the fantasy of her non-involvement. Biden spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre, as Gateway Pundit’s Christina Laila pointed out, “threw Kamala Harris under the bus and said she is indeed responsible for the inflation crisis.”
So how does Harris plan to avoid blame for the economic pain most Americans feel is due to Bidenomics?
By coming up with even worse solutions to the inflation problem that has left millions of Americans worse off than they were four years ago.
Harris now proposes a “first-ever federal ban on price gouging on food and groceries — setting clear rules of the road to make clear that big corporations can’t unfairly exploit consumers to run up excessive corporate profits on food and groceries.”
Worse, as Fox News reports, “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.”
REMEMBER THE ODD AND EVEN NUMBER LICENSE PLATES AND GETTING GAS FOR YOUR CAR!
For those of a certain age, this is reminiscent of the 1970s, when both parties went in for wage and price controls to control inflation. They failed miserably, leading to rationing, higher prices and shortages, making the ’70s one of the worst decades in U.S. economic history.
Just what we need: Law-abiding companies — struggling with soaring labor and product costs, not to mention massive increases in theft as leftist attorneys general stop punishing crime — being scapegoated again for far-left Democrats’ repeated policy failures.
There’s one major reason for this inflationary mess: The Democrats’ utterly unnecessary $5 trillion spending binge during the COVID economic lockdown, massive supply-chain disruptions, plus the $1.2 trillion “Inflation Reduction Act.” Taken together, they injected trillions of dollars into a shrunken economy. The inevitable result: inflation, as more money chased fewer goods. Oh, we shouldn't forget who the deciding vote was … yup … Harris!!!
It had nothing at all to do with “corporate consolidation in the market.” It had everything to do with the Biden-Harris administration’s economic incompetence, on full display again with Harris’ plan to control grocery store prices and give first-time homebuyers up to $25,000 to buy a house and to spend $40 billion on “innovative housing construction,” whatever that is.
Problem is, grocery stores are not “price gouging.” Indeed, the average profit margin in the supermarket trade is around 1.2%, give or take a couple of points. To accuse store chains of gouging is a lie, straight up, as the chart below shows.
Price gouging? Absolutely insane.
So what happens if price controls do go into effect? Overnight, shortages will emerge, followed shortly by a black market. Stores cannot continue to sell products they lose money on. They’ll go out of business.
After price controls, inflation doesn’t go away. It gets worse, as formerly profitable enterprises go bankrupt and the supply of goods shrinks. Less supply = higher prices.
Someone reading this somewhere is thinking, “this is just right-wing (or libertarian) propaganda. By forcing stores to charge less, inflation will go down.”
In fact, almost all economists, left and right, disagree with that.
The World Bank, in a 2020 paper argued: “Although they are sometimes used as a tool for social policy, price controls can dampen investment and growth, worsen poverty outcomes, cause countries to incur heavy fiscal burdens, and complicate the effective conduct of monetary policy.”
Meanwhile, a recent Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis paper, “Why Price Controls Should Stay in the History Books,” summed up the U.S. experience: “(E)conomic theory and analysis of history show that broad price controls would be costly and of limited effectiveness.”
If anything, that’s an understatement.
Even the Washington Post has thoroughly (and correctly) bashed Harris’ idea: “It’s hard to exaggerate how bad this policy is. It is, in all but name, a sweeping set of government-enforced price controls across every industry, not only food. Supply and demand would no longer determine prices or profit levels. Far-off Washington bureaucrats would. The FTC would be able to tell, say, a Kroger in Ohio the acceptable price it can charge for milk.”
There are lots of other bad ideas in Kamala Harris’ plan, and we’ll deal with those later, one by one. Suffice to say, forcing price controls on private companies is the worst anti-inflationary strategy possible. The big question is, does the Democratic Party ever learn anything from its disasters?
The following are just stores in Florida, now consider the other 49 states … could this be the beginning of something bigger …
Big Lots, Family Dollar, Hooters, Red Lobster: Which chains have closed locations in 2024?
It's been a year of empty parking lots and signs in windows. Major restaurant and retailer chains have been tightening their belts against financial losses and eliminating "underperforming" locations either as part of a reorganization, a new strategy, or a bankruptcy.
LL Flooring is the latest big chain to announce store closings. Formerly known as Lumber Liquidators, the Richmond, Virginia-based company will close 94 stores in more than 30 states (including Florida) as it files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
Last week, Orlando-based restaurant chain Buca Di Beppo also filed for Chapter 11 after closing nearly 20% of its locations in the last month, citing rising costs and hiring difficulty. But they're just the latest.
Here are the major retail and food chains that have closed locations in Florida so far in 2024. Scroll to read by month, or click the names to jump to that listing.
January: TGI Fridays closed 36 restaurants, including 2 in Florida
Casual dining chain TGI Fridays — sometimes referred to simply as Fridays — announced at the beginning of the year that they were selling several restaurants in the Northeast and closing 36 underperforming locations around the country, including two in Florida.
The two locations closed were in Ormond Beach and Royal Palm Beach, leaving 21 TGI Fridays in Florida.
February: Macy's announces plans to shut 150 stores nationwide
Macy's, the 166-year-old retail giant, announced in February it was closing 150 "unproductive" stores nationwide as part of a massive reorganization.
No list was released and to date, none of the 41 locations in Florida seem to have closed. There's even a new one opening in the Waterford Lakes Town Center in Orlando on Aug. 24.
March: Family Dollar, Dollar Tree closing almost 1,000 stores
Ubiquitous discount store Family Dollar announced it would be closing about 600 storesover the first half of 2024, with another 370 Family Dollar stores and 30 Dollar Tree stores closing over the next several years as leases expire.
No official list has been released, but marketing website Usearch lists the following Florida Dollar Stores as having closed this year:
- Jacksonville:
- 6765 Dunn Ave
- 744 Edgewood Ave N
- 6044 Merrill Rd
- 7001 Merrill Rd
- 1556 Monument Rd
- 233 E State St
- Lakeland: 4945 US-92
- Madison: 244 Base Street
- Orlando: 7113 S Orange Blossom Trail
- Tallahassee: 540 W Brevard St
- Titusville: 708 Cheney Hwy
March: Best Buy announces 10 to 15 store closures in 2024
On an earnings call in March, electronic retailer Best Buy announced it expected to close 10 to 15 stores in 2024, following 17 stores the company closed in 2023.
No list has been provided, but these Florida locations on the Best Buy website are currently listed as closed temporarily or permanently.
- Fort Myers: 10033 Gulf Center Dr
- Jacksonville: 9355 Atlantic Blvd
- Miami: 11905 S Dixie Hwy
- Tampa: 18071 Highwoods Preserve Pkwy
April: Walmart to close 51 health centers in U.S. including 23 in Florida
Walmart announced it was closing all 51 of its health centers across the countryincluding 23 in Florida, citing escalating operation costs and "challenging reimbursement environment."
April: Tijuana Flats closing 11 locations
The Florida-based Tex-Mex restaurant Tijuana Flats also filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection this year and was purchased by Flatheads, LLC. The company announced it was closing 11 underperforming locations but more than that have shut down in Florida this year.
No list has been released but Yelp and Google listings label these locations as closed.
- Boynton Beach: 390 N Congress Ave
- Coconut Creek: 6970 State Road 7
- Gainesville: 1720 W. University Ave
- Fort Lauderdale: 1619 E. Sunrise Blvd
- Jacksonville: 9942 Old Baymeadows Road
- Miramar: 14633 Miramar Pkwy
- Oakland Park: 5065 Old Dixie Hwy
- Orlando:
- 4698 Gardens Park Blvd Ste 101
- 14152 Narcoossee Rd
- 7560 W Sand Lake Rd
- Plantation: 1371 S. University Dr
- Pompano Beach: 431 S. Federal Hwy
- Sarasota: 1635 S. Tamiami Trail
- Tampa:
- 17501 Preserve Walk Ln. #103
- 4027 S Dale Mabry Hwy
- West Boca Raton: 20401 State Road 7
- West Palm Beach: 2089 Palm Beach Lakes Blvd
- Westchase: 9520 W. Linebaugh Avenue
Another four Tijuana Flats locations were abruptly closed in Jacksonville in February.
May: Red Lobster closed 99 restaurants, including 17 in Florida
Cheddar Bay biscuit fans mourned when Red Lobster abruptly shuttered 99 restaurants across 28 states — including 17 in Florida — would be closed after it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
Weeks later, when the seafood chain that started in 1968 in Lakeland filed bankruptcy documents it listed 228 rejected leases the company said would keep losing money and might need to be closed. According to the doc, another 24 Florida locations could sink under the waves.
April: Express Inc. closing nearly 100 stores
Fashion Retailer Express Inc. announced it was closing nearly 100 stores across the country as part of its Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection plans, including five in Florida. Here's the list.
May: rue21 closing all its stores
Teen fashion retailer and mall staple rue21 filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy for the third time and announced it was closing all its stores. Of the Warrendale, Pennsylvania-based chain's 543 stores, Florida is home to 30 of them. Here's the list.
June: Hooters across the country shut down without warning
Fans of chicken wings, beer and women in short shorts woke up June 22 to find that about 40 Hooters restaurants abruptly closed. That included at least four in Florida. Locals said that the Lakeland locations was the second Hooters ever opened, in 1984.
“Like many restaurants under pressure from current market conditions, Hooters has made the difficult decision to close a select number of underperforming stores,” the Atlanta-based sports bar chain said in a statement to Nation’s Restaurant News.
June: Walgreens to close 'underperforming' stores
The national drug store chain Walgreens announced it will be closing "certain underperforming U.S. stores."
No list was provided, but USearch reports that of the 110 Walgreens locations that have closed this year for whatever reason, so far only one was in Florida, at 12041 Palm Beach Blvd. in Fort Myers.
Florida has more Walgreens than any other state, with 800 locations in 349 cities.
July: Conn's HomePlus closing some locations
Conn's HomePlus, a 134-year-old company based in Texas, expanded quickly last December when it acquired Florida-based W.S. Badcock, another home goods retailer that operates in the southeastern U.S. under the name "Badcock Home Furniture & More" The result was 550 stores across 15 states between the two brands.
In July, Conn's announced plans to close at least 73 locations across 13 states with 18 of Florida's 21 locations getting shuttered. But Badcock had it worse.
July: Badcock Home Furniture & More closing all locations
Conn's HomePlus downsized, but its new acquisition is completely closing down.
All of the more than 300 Badcock Home Furniture & More locations are going out of business by October, including about 80 in Florida where the chain started in Mulberry back in 1904.
July: Big Lots closing 26 stores in Florida
The big box discount retailer announced it was closing as many as 40 stores around the country — 11 in Florida alone — after its first quarter revenues were down by over 10% for a loss of about $114.5 billion.
At the end of the month, Big Lots said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that there could be up to 315 closed locations. A check of the Big Lots website found 26 Florida stores already running closing sales. Here's the list.
August: Buca di Beppo files for bankruptcy and closes restaurants
Orlando-based casual restaurant chain Buca di Beppo has been struggling in recent months, shutting down restaurants since the COVID pandemic and closing nearly 20% of its locations in July, according to Restaurant Business Magazine.
The nine locations in Florida have been whittled down to three, in Orlando, Celebration/Kissimmee, and Davie.
August: LL Flooring closing 94 stores in more than 30 states
LL Flooring, formerly known as Lumber Liquidators, announced it will be closing 94 stores in more than 30 states as it files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the face of nearly $110 million in long-term debt.
The Richmond, Virginia-based company will be closing five locations in Florida:
- Clearwater Showroom - 2613 Gulf to Bay Blvd.
- Florida City - 33550 S. Dixie Highway
- Gainsville - 2607 NW 13th St.
- St. Augustine - 330 CBL Dr.
- Tampa - 8444 W. Hillsborough Ave.
