Mrs. Harris's Price War

Don't just stand there, comrade. Grab a shovel!

(They believed what? Kamala on the job)

“The state is the great fictitious entity by which everyone seeks to live at the expense of everyone else.”

~ Frédéric Bastiat

Joel Bowman, with today’s Note From the End of the World: Buenos Aires, Argentina...

Trade wars... import tariffs... price fixing... capital controls... central banks... phony fiat... creditism... corporatism... crony capitalism... socialism... communism... collectivism... 

Many are the tools politicians use to destroy wealth... many are the political tools that will use – and justify – them. 

In Wednesday’s Note, we looked at Mr. Trump’s Trade War. Your editor even dared suggest that free trade was preferable to managed trade, a notion that was once considered so uncontroversial as to be hardly worth mentioning.

Still, for those who thought Trump’s trade wars were bad (and, perhaps especially, for those who thought them good!), such measures cower in the shadow of arrogance cast by the Kamala Doctrine. 

Where Trump’s kooky tariffs propose to beat China... Kamala’s zany price controls aim to be China. That is, by inserting the government as final arbiter of what is a “fair price” – for everything from medication to groceries, education to healthcare to housing, and plenty more – Mrs. Harris stands at the ready to “out commie the commies.” 

Inflation Bites

Yes, patient reader... after having carefully steered her campaign well clear of substance for weeks on end, Mrs. Harris finally unveiled her economic masterplan just in time for her coronation as Democratic Party nominee. 

In case you missed the whole joyous shebang, this gal’s tough on high prices (mostly caused by her administration), angry at billionaires (except those appearing at her convention) and all in on helping the lower and middle classes (members of which she hopes never to have to meet in real life).

In the goodie bag of government giveaways; tax credits for people who have children, five-figure checks from the feds for first time homebuyers, and new and improved penalties for those greedy green grocers who, as everyone knows, only got into the human feeding business to put “profits before people.”

And really, who better to bring “lower prices to American families” than the candidate who spent the past four years delivering record high prices to American families?

Data from the government’s own bean counters reveals what half of America already knows... and the other half uncomfortably denies; that cumulative inflation under the Biden-Harris administration bites...and hard. Here’s a look at a few key prices, just since the dynamic duo took office:

Gas: +50.5% 
Electricity: +31.7% 
Fuel oil: +49.1% 
Airfare: +22.6% 
Hotels: +51.2% 
Groceries: +21.6% 
Eating out: +23% 
Baby food: +30.1% 
K-12 food: +65.5% 
Rent: +22%

And yet, in her first unscripted, unedited, live, solo, objective, unbiased, totally-not-cringeworthy, televised interview last night, with CNN, Kamala doubled down on her Price Czar antics.

Harris, Price Czar

Asked what she might say to Americans struggling to make ends meet after enduring the highest inflation of any presidency since the Carter administration, Kamala made sure first to blame her predecessor for gross mismanagement (inflation averaged 1.9% under Trump... 5.7% under Biden-Harris), then took credit for rescuing the nation (naturally), and only then (phew!) claimed she knows what it takes to bring prices down:

“When we came in [to office] our highest priority was to do what we could to rescue America, and today we know that we have inflation under 3%... [B]ut you are right, prices, in particular for groceries, are still too high. The American people know it. I know it. Which is why my agenda includes what we need to do to bring down the price of groceries. For example, dealing with an issue like price gouging.” 

Now, if it seems a bit “weird” for Kamala to boast about bringing inflation waaaay down... to 50% higher than it was when she took office... perhaps that’s because you don’t know how math works, “given the passage of time.” 

Not to worry. The mainstream media have been quick to hold Kamala’s feet to the fire during her whole, joyous campaign, the way any self-respecting, independent outlet would, speaking truth to power and all that. Check out some of the hard-hitting analysis from these proud mastheads:

Just Keep Digging

According to the weak-kneed editors at TIME Magazine, the Harris Economic Plan “would build on existing efforts from the Biden Administration to address higher costs of living—but with a notably more aggressive approach.”

Those familiar with the First Law of Holes (if you’re in one, stop digging) will no doubt be looking for a rope right about now, either to fashion a ladder… or a noose.

No time for all that, comrade. Shut-up and grab a shovel! 

Why, exactly, the feds should be in the business of rewarding (or punishing) people for procreating... or hosing more money onto an already inflated housing market... or deciding when the price of broccolini is “unfair” is never questioned. It’s simply accepted that it’s the responsibility of bureaucrats, like Mrs. Harris, to decide such things. 

Alas, as the state encroaches upon the lives of individuals, so does it erode their freedom to make their own mistakes, tend their own gardens and otherwise pursue their own happiness. As the French philosopher, Frédéric Bastiat, wrote back in the 19th century:

“Away with the whims of governmental administrators, their socialized projects, their centralization, their tariffs, their government schools, their state religions, their free credit, their bank monopolies, their regulations, their restrictions, their equalization by taxation, and their pious moralizations!” 

~ Frédéric Bastiat, The Law (1850)

The strength and resilience of an economy comes from the freedom of parties within it to trade voluntarily and to pursue their own individual ends, without let or hindrance, without coercion, including (and often especially) from their own government. 

If the presidential candidates standing for this year’s election really wish to put “America first” (whatever that even means), they will do well to first get out of its way. 

Stay tuned for more Notes From the End of the World...

Cheers,

Joel Bowman

P.S. Good news, dear readers! From the East to the West… in Americas North and South… from one “End of the World” to another… the message of free markets, free minds and free people is taking hold.

Everywhere, people are beginning to see the mainstream media for the shameless government propagandists they are… and trust in legacy outlets is plumbing historical lows.

A national Gallup poll from 2023 found that the share of respondents who said their level of trust in the media was “none at all” reached 39%, while those who trusted the media either “a great deal/a fair amount” dipped to just 32%.

A further 29% said they trusted the media “not very much,” meaning 68% of respondents fell into the “not very much/none at all” trust in media segment.

And that was before the whole “this is the best version of Biden ever” saga, the “bloodbath” hoax and the “Joyful Kamala” campaign shenanigans.

Meanwhile, independent sources – such as these humble Notes From the End of the World – continue to reach a larger and more engaged readership than ever. Over the past year alone, our audience has grown to include subscribers in all 50 US states and 133 countries around the world.

Of course, this is only possible through the generous support of our dear Notes members, to whom we are forever grateful. If you enjoy the work we do here, and would like to join our growing community of readers championing free markets, free minds and free people, please consider becoming a member here, today. Cheers!