Kamala Harris’s economy plan: new housing and end to price-gouging

Though analysts say some of Harris’s proposals, such as the ban on price-gouging, are likely to be popular, they have also sparked criticism from some economists. Michael Salinger, a professor of markets, public policy and law at Boston University’s Questrom School of Business, said a similar ban was discussed when he served as the lead economist at the Federal Trade Commission during the administration of George W Bush. He said the Harris campaign’s other plans would also face questions, given their cost. For example, the proposal to increase the tax credit for children to as much as $3,600, which Congress did temporarily during the pandemic and opted against extending, would cost more than $1tn, according to some estimates, external. With populism ascendant in both parties, that cost has not dissuaded Trump’s choice for vice president, JD Vance, from backing an even bigger tax credit expansion. Economists predict that increased drilling would have limited impact given the global nature of energy markets and have warned that Trump’s pledge to impose a tax of 10% or more on imports would drive up prices. Inflation, which tracks the pace of price increases, was 2.9% in July, the smallest annual increase since March 2021, the Labor Department said this week. That is getting closer to the 2% pace considered normal, though prices are up roughly 20% since January 2021. “The problem that people object to is that even if inflation is down, the prices are still higher and that’s true but they’re higher because of the natural working of market forces,” Prof Salinger said. – This Summarize was created by Neural News AI (V1). Source: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cy8xqy0jv24o