Elizabeth Warren Introduces Price-Gouging Bill That Fails To Define What Qualifies as Price GougingThe bill would penalize companies for price gouging during times of war, public health emergencies, or natural disasters—which would have encompassed all of the last two years.
LIZ WOLFE
5.13.2022
"The prices Americans are paying for groceries and other essentials are at all-time highs. One of the reasons?" asked Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D–Mass.) on Wednesday via Twitter. "Giant corporations are price gouging & reaping record profits. We need to put a stop to corporate gouging that drives up prices for families."
It couldn't be that runaway inflation—which has reached astonishing 40-year highs in recent weeks—is, according to Federal Reserve of San Francisco economists, partly attributable to President Joe Biden's mid-pandemic economic stimulus plans, which pumped money into the bank accounts of Americans with seemingly little thought given to what could result. In Warren's view of the world, it's corporate, not government, malfeasance that's leading to pocketbook pain for everyday Americans.
Warren holds that such problems must be solved by the federal government in the form of a new bill that would limit the prices companies can charge consumers during times of "exceptional market shock." That includes times of war, public health emergency, or natural disaster—which would have encompassed all of the last two years, barring firms from raising their prices to adapt to difficult and fast-changing economic circumstances.
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Source:
https://reason.com/2022/05/13/elizabeth-warren-introduces-price-gouging-bill-that-fails-to-define-what-qualifies-as-price-gouging/
