Local Grocery Store Owner CRITIQUES Harris’ Proposed Economic Policy Plan

Daily Report August 25,2024

A former grocer and now Congressman from Ohio blasted a price control scheme being floated by Vice President Kamala Harris, underscoring the costs of such a policy for businesses and consumers.

Freshman Representative Michael Rulli (R-OH), whose family owns the Rulli Bros. Markets grocery chain, said profit margins are notoriously thin already, and adding more regulations could mean the end of his family-owned business.

“This will be a nail in the coffin of this industry that no one can imagine,” Rulli told Fox News.

Rulli pointed out that the margins in grocery are really thin, sharing “The net profit in grocery stores is about one and a half [percent] — if you’re doing really good, one and three quarters. Just in layman’s terms, it’s about a $1.50 for every $100 that you go through the registers. And what we’ve seen in the last three to four years has been pretty horrific.”

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He also warned that price controls could spur shortages of basic goods_used in households.

“If the Harris administration tells Procter & Gamble, which is based in Cincinnati, that this Tide right here that I’m selling today for $4.99 has to stay $4.99 for the next four years, what will happen is that Procter & Gamble will just simply choose not to make this product,” he continued.

“And you will be living in Cuba or Venezuela.”

Advocates for Ms. Harris’ plan note that giant food companies have been raking in huge profits, such as record earnings by the top 100 global industrial Food and Beverage manufacturers.

Publicly traded companies shelled out $9 billion to shareholders this May, thanks mostly to President Trump’s generous corporate tax cut.

The Wall Street Journal reported Hershey’s profits rose 62% in the period between 2019 and mid-2023, while General Mills also gained as their earnings before interest, taxes depreciation and amortization expanded by an average of 48%.