Kevin O’Leary, one of several investors on the show “Shark Tank,” shared his opinion this weekend that parts of the economic plan laid out by Vice President Kamala Harris were a “really bad idea.”
O’Leary made the remarks while speaking with CNN, where he addressed one of the most prominent parts of her economic plan -- a fight against price gouging.
“First, they tried that in Venezuela, Cuba, North Korea, the USSR,” O’Leary said. “No, that’s not going to work.”
Harris formally announced the plan at a rally in North Carolina last week. Included were policies that addressed child and home-owner tax credits and a federal ban on price gouging on groceries, something O’Leary says wouldn’t work.
“It’s impossible to understand how a corporation would set pricing based on gouging. What does that even mean? That’s why it’s being ridiculed,” he said.
O’Leary went on to say that while Harris has a wave of momentum heading into the Democratic National Convention, she hasn’t spoken much with reporters or been questioned on her policies.
“So, throw anything at the wall. You want free money for everybody. That’s what every politician does, but it has no merit,” he said. “In reality, at some point, she’s got to put forward policies that she could be questioned on in front of a reporter, and I’m not sure when that’s going to happen. That’s what I’m concerned about right now.”
USA Today noted that profit margins in the food industry already tend to be among the lowest. "Net profit margin in 2023 in the grocery industry hit 1.6%, the lowest level since 2019, according to FMI, The Food Industry Association," they reported.
At the same time, However, left-leaning government watchdog Accountable.US and former Labor Secretary Robert Reich say companies have been raising prices on Americans to reward CEOs and stockholders. For example, Rodney McMullen, the CEO and Chairman of Kroger, had a compensation package of $15.7 million in 2023, which included a base salary $10 million in stock awards, and a $673,000 bonus. The year before, he was paid $19.2 million, making his pay ratio to the median Kroger worker 502 to 1 in 2023 and 671 to 1 in 2022.
“Consumers are getting shafted, as corporations tell Wall Street they expect to be able to keep their prices and profits in the stratosphere,” Reich wrote in June.
Harris has also proposed offering first-time homebuyers $25,000 in down-payment assistance as well as a tax credit. O’Leary said that both were not the best ideas because of the repercussions it would bring.
“There are bad ideas, bad, bad ideas, and really bad ideas, and that falls in this category. When you give $25,000 to anybody in a constrained market, you cause inflation. So if there’s three houses for sale on the street and everybody bidding on it gets another $25,000, all of that attributes to the seller, and you cause the price of the house to go up because there’s no supply,” he said.
Overall, O’Leary says that Harris can’t do much to fix the real estate market, despite her proposal to build 3 million new housing units over the next four years.
“[Real estate] is not controlled by a federal mandate. Housing is state by state. She can do nothing to solve that problem. There’s no way she’s building 3 million houses. Which state is going to give her that mandate?” O’Leary said.
While CNN host Jessica Dean pushed back that Harris wants to work with states, O’Leary asked what she’s “been doing for the last three-and-half years?”
He went on to say that who wins the White House doesn’t matter to him as long as he can continue to make investments.
“I want her to be successful. I want her, should she win, to be a great president with policies that let me, as an investor, invest,” he said. “But I really hate this rhetoric, this political theater. I want her to put her policies in front of you, a reporter that would ask her how she could actually implement it. I’m waiting for that, and so are millions of other investors, and by the way, lots of voters in swing states. We need some meat on the bone.”