The CEO of Goya Foods has criticized Vice President Kamala Harris’ economic proposals, saying the government has “no business” controlling food prices.
Bob Unanue, who runs the largest Hispanic-owned food company in the United States, said grocery businesses would go bankrupt under his proposals.
On Friday, Harris delivered her first policy speech as a Democratic presidential candidate, where she promised to create an “economy of opportunity.”
This included a federal ban on price gouging across the food industry – when retailers dramatically raise the price of basic goods, usually to take advantage of an adverse situation such as the COVID-19 pandemic.
But Unanue said Fox News “The proposals are the final nails in the coffin of this economy and this country,” he said. From day one, the Biden-Harris administration has “started a war” against the middle class, he said.
Bob Unanue, who runs the largest Hispanic-owned food company in the United States, said grocery businesses would go bankrupt under Harris’ proposals.
Unanue, who spoke at the Republican National Convention earlier this year, told the outlet: “They are using a nail gun to put the final nails in the coffin of this economy and this country.
“From day one, they put this country on a disastrous path.”
During her speech last week, Harris said food costs skyrocketed during the pandemic as supply chains shut down and failed.
But while supply chains have improved, prices remain 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 cup, the straw, the product to go to the store and get it, and then the government comes along and says, I want you to sell that lemonade for a penny.
‘You know, you just have to close your lemonade stand and go home.’
He added that grocery businesses tend to make a profit margin of 1 to 2 percent and hire a lot of people.
“We’re going to put them out of business by controlling prices,” he said.
Former President Donald Trump also criticized the economic plans, saying that controlling food prices would lead to “rationing, starvation and skyrocketing prices.”
Economists are divided on the potential impact of Harris’ proposals.
Some argue that measures taken to try to combat price gouging may actually make the problem worse.
On Friday, Harris delivered her first policy speech as a Democratic presidential candidate, where she promised to create an “economy of opportunity.”
Gavin Roberts, chair of the economics department at Weber State University, said: CNN That when prices are high, the best policy measure to adopt is to do nothing.
This would encourage consumers who are deterred by, for example, high beef prices to buy another type of meat or an alternative protein instead.
In turn, this helps keep meat on supermarket shelves for people who want it enough to pay the higher prices, he said.
He added that the policy will 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 prevent new competition from entering to take advantage of higher profit margins, competition that could have helped lower prices in the long run.
But others have applauded the proposals.
Lindsay Owens, executive director of the think tank Groundwork Collaborative, told CNN 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,” he said.