Kamala Harris's plan to end 'price gouging' is intentionally vague, unlikely to become law, and distracting from more consequentially good and bad aspects of her economic plan.
I think it can be hard to measure angst and it's motivation. Lots of people are probably less anxious and more just remarking on whatever issue grabs their fancy or fills their word count -- and people tend to want to talk more about things they are sure are good or bad not complex ones with upsides and downsides.
Also, the lack of a clear record Harris stands behind or many policy proposals from her own mouth leave many people trying to read the tea leaves -- is this a sign she's actually going to run a very left wing administration?
Other parts of the angst are simply about the electoral impact. I -- along with David Axlerod and his co-host on hacks on tap -- are concerned it's an electoral misstep. Maybe it's not the most important one ever - though it does give fox a good angle to accuse her of being communist adjacent - but whether she wins or loses is significant.
I’m surprised that you just passed over the expansion of the child tax credit. The expanded child tax credit is incredibly expensive. Granted both Trump and Vance have supported increasing the credit too, so it is probably a wash on bad fiscal policy like the no tax on tips.
It is expensive. I expect she’ll try to pay for it with a combination of expirations of 2017 law provisions (a pay-for relative to a current-policy baseline though not a current-law baseline) and higher taxes on corporations and high earners. She probably also won’t do quite as much expansion as she’s proposed, because it’s expensive. I’d like to see more fiscal consolidation than we’re likely to see under any election outcome — it’s going to take years of messaging about how the deficit affects interest rates before we can get it, I think.
I think it can be hard to measure angst and it's motivation. Lots of people are probably less anxious and more just remarking on whatever issue grabs their fancy or fills their word count -- and people tend to want to talk more about things they are sure are good or bad not complex ones with upsides and downsides.
Also, the lack of a clear record Harris stands behind or many policy proposals from her own mouth leave many people trying to read the tea leaves -- is this a sign she's actually going to run a very left wing administration?
Other parts of the angst are simply about the electoral impact. I -- along with David Axlerod and his co-host on hacks on tap -- are concerned it's an electoral misstep. Maybe it's not the most important one ever - though it does give fox a good angle to accuse her of being communist adjacent - but whether she wins or loses is significant.
I’m surprised that you just passed over the expansion of the child tax credit. The expanded child tax credit is incredibly expensive. Granted both Trump and Vance have supported increasing the credit too, so it is probably a wash on bad fiscal policy like the no tax on tips.
It is expensive. I expect she’ll try to pay for it with a combination of expirations of 2017 law provisions (a pay-for relative to a current-policy baseline though not a current-law baseline) and higher taxes on corporations and high earners. She probably also won’t do quite as much expansion as she’s proposed, because it’s expensive. I’d like to see more fiscal consolidation than we’re likely to see under any election outcome — it’s going to take years of messaging about how the deficit affects interest rates before we can get it, I think.