Kamala Harris says she will go after price gouging, what do you think about it?

How do you measure gouging?
when the markup exceeds 200%.?

Pretty sure taking money from rich people isn’t gonna go over well.

Why would they let the “DEI hire” actually have power?

Depends on how much the republicans hamstring her from doing her job.

Price fixing.

I think it’s a talking point designed to deflect away from the real reason prices are high. There are no specific examples of price gouging ever given. She presents it as “those _____ people screwing the little people” but leaves it up to the listener to fill in the blank. The entire concept is predicated on the idea that price gouging suddenly popped up when she and Joe took office.

If price gouging was really going on, you should be able to point to specific examples. And if you could do that, it isn’t a job for the POTUS to deal with. It would be the job of a state AG or even a local DA to deal with. By pushing this to the POTUS level, you are hinting that the federal government will start controlling production and distribution of all goods and services in the country. You know…Socialism.

I don’t know how much control a President would have over prices. Under the capitalist system, the businesses can price things and the market ultimately determines what the market can bear, meaning, when prices get too high, people stop buying. For example, soda sales went down so the soda manufacturers had to lower the price somewhat and/or people just switched to other drinks.

I agree with @seawulf575 and @SQUEEKY2 here.

Gouging usually refers to taking advantage of consumers during an emergency situation. She said in her statement it’s a select few not all companies. I have argued for 30 years that healthcare should fall under gouging law restrictions.

The FTC has been going after unfair practices like monopolistic or collusion.

One of those things that is said but there is no follow-through intention. It’s empty, undefined and just election pillow talk. I wish it wasn’t though.

Do you mean price gouging like happens when gas prices skyrocket during a holiday or big event nearby? Yeah, correcting that’s not gonna happen.

Let’s look at it this way: Let’s take groceries as a perfect example. Price gouging, driving the prices up to make a killing for pure profit, could be possible. If every grocery store chain in the entire country all colluded to do it all to the same amount. Does anyone believe that is happening?

Despite @seawulf575‘s assertion that price gouging doesn’t go on, I give you two examples:

!. Pharma Bro Martin Shkreli. jacked up the price of a life-saving medication by roughly 4,000% after obtaining exclusive rights to the drug.

2. Caremark, Express Scripts, Optum, and their affiliates created a broken rebate system that inflated insulin drug prices. That case is being litigated.

In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, there were numerous reports of businesses significantly raising the prices of gasoline, food, and water. In some areas, the price of bottled water quadrupled overnight, leading to widespread outrage and legal action.

Similarly, during the COVID-19 pandemic, hand sanitizers, masks, and other protective equipment saw prices soar as demand skyrocketed, prompting investigations and fines for companies found guilty of price gouging.

^After Katrina, good old GWB, abandoned the poor, elderly, and/or sickly.

Trump was NOT a fair man, during his term either. He famously went on and on about not giving federal money for wildfires in CA, because it’s a blue state. It’s pretty clear, if he could have, he’d had let the state burn.
On his second stint, he will be even more pompous. And of course “revenge” is basically what Trump will prioritize over anything else.
He’ll NEVER miss an opportunity, to try to make life worse for those who didn’t support him. Yes. Because he’s a narcissistic, and insecure little baby man…

15 hours ago, Bernie Sanders calls out Wegovy, Ozempic CEO for price gouging as well.

Anyone pretending to not know these basic tenets is feigning ignorance for their own ulterior motive.

^That’s a big strategy for many Trump supporters. Being deliberately obtuse, about things they cause, while simultaneously proclaiming their succinct understanding of problems they wish to blame on the left.

And let’s not forget the ongoing battle against landlords using a program to raise rent that uses a national average instead of their own regional average.

Why would Arizona need to match the rent of NYC?

Recently in Canada, we had a bread fixing scheme from the big box stores. They were fined ~$34 million dolllars.

RDG. I don’t think large fines, ever really are more than the profits an immoral corporation gets from being sleazy.

Pharmaceutical companies, for example, seem to have an obvious strategy; make billions off of a drug we know is harmful, then pay millions in damages years later. They still come out, very much on top.

Some of the wealthiest corporations, made record profits, during Covid.
THAT is the problem. The wealthy profit, from tragedy.
So. I guess it would be stupid, not to keep the world in constant crisis….

I own Novo Nordisk (Ozembic) stock. I probably lost money today after reading @Blackberry’s post above. I have no idea what Ozembic costs the final consumer or their insurance companies.

After Katrina flights roundtrip from Memphis to Gulf Port, Mississippi were $750 round trip for over a year. Huge gouge in my opinion.

In Florida I very rarely see any gouging in stores or gas stations during hurricanes. Prices do go up when demand is up during big tourist times of year, but I wouldn’t call it rising to the level of a gouging price.

I do think hotel and resort prices were out of control 2022, 2023, for the bounce once everything opened after covid, and moderating now, but still high. We had I bet millions of tourists from the UK to Disney, and from what I understand the UK gave even more money than the US to “stay home.” Maybe now that people spent through their extra money it will correct some more. My biggest gripe is extremely high resort and parking fees. Parking fees punish locals.

Leslie Stahl on 60 Minutes has done reports on cancer drugs raising prices because a new drug enters the market and gets a much higher price. That to me is borderline collusion and it is gouging in my opinion since the person has the natural disaster or cancer.

60 Minutes this past Sunday had the FTC chair talking about monopolistic behaviors, it was really good, maybe you can see it on demand. She was on Jon Stewart too, I’ve linked that before. Here it is again: https://youtu.be/oaDTiWaYfcM?si=nFkmwaUvK787xZ2D

@zenvelo Yep, two Pharma examples. But that isn’t what Kamala is running on. When she is asked, given so many people are struggling with high prices everywhere, what are you going to do to lower prices? She totes out the “price gouging” talking point. She doesn’t list any specifics and doesn’t identify big pharma at all. And those two examples could be sued by state AG’s or even the federal AG since big pharma screws the USA consistently.

@seawulf575 There are probably hundreds of pharma examples. Gilead’s Hep C drug, remember the EpiPen story, HIV medication, the list goes on. I agree with you, I haven’t hears Harris mention pharma under gouging, I don’t know if Harris includes medications under gouging, probably not. Traditionally, it hasn’t been included as far as I know. That has been my personal suggestion to take a healthcare case up through the courts on the basis of gouging laws.

Opportunistic behavior is a problem. It’s easy to raise prices when at any given time half the population is practically happy to complain about it. Politics is ruining this country.

Bernie Sanders is a little late – it was published everywhere a number of months ago that it was discovered that it only takes $3–5 to make a month’s worth of Ozempic and they charge people around $1,200.

@seawulf575 And those two examples could be sued by state AG’s or even the federal AG since big pharma screws the USA consistently.

3 big pharmas are being sued. I guess you missed my Q from 5 days ago:

Did you read that the FTC is suing CVS, Cigna and United Health?

Since Ozembic is an old drug, they didn’t need to formulate it, just test it for a new use. Pharma companies do this all of the time, and I think it’s wrong to charge exorbitant prices.

Other than pharmaceuticals, and gasoline in the event of a disaster such as a hurricane, does the President have the ability to change prices for things like eggs, milk, beef and other things that many people consider to be staples? When there were high prices for eggs about a year ago, due to bird flu, and some markets were charging 8 dollars a dozen, that’s an example that I’m thinking of. Does the President have the ability to change that? I don’t think so but it’s very possible I’m incorrect.

I think I saw that Ozembic prices are ten times higher in USA than Germany. WTAF

@JLeslie It’s not that old, but you’re right, they get approved for other uses all the time.

“Jesper Lau, Vice President of Diabetes Protein and Peptide Chemistry at Novo Nordisk is credited with the invention and development of Semaglutide in 2012.”

@smudges Old enough that it’s been proven to be safe, but you’re right it’s not very very old. It’s probably coming up on the patent ending so a new use extend the patent so to speak. Very typical.

I’ve been saying for years lots of Americans are probably undiagnosed diabetics. We don’t test regularly to see spikes after eating, we just test fasting, and now they test A1c which I guess is helpful. It’s no surprise diabetes medication helps people lose weight. Then you have women who are given diabetic drugs when they can’t get pregnant due to not ovulating, and once they have their baby they stop taking the drug. Obviously, they need the drug.

@jca2 I think the government doesn’t need to step in in those cases, I think Americans need to be more educated in the power of the people. Don’t pay the high price. Those staples aren’t actually dire if you don’t have them a few days or weeks. The market might get over-regulated.