Politics
WATCH: CNBC’s Joe Kernen SCHOOLS Elizabeth Warren On Communist Price Controls
A visibly frustrated Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) got into a war of words with CNBC host Joe Kernen over the Democrat’s claim that instituting price controls will lead to lower prices in grocery stores.
Kernan, who spent a decade in stockbroking before taking the reins of the network’s “Squawk Box” morning show, corrected Sen. Warren after she cited examples of corporations who she claimed have raised prices unfairly under the guise of inflation. Left unsaid was any mention of previous quarters showing both companies earning far less, a fact the host was quick to point out before the bickering began. “Senator, that’s sophistry. Your example on Kraft is…” he started before Warren shouted over him. “Can I finish? You finished first.” Kernan called out the Massachusetts Democrat for giving the show “only six minutes” of her time for an economic discussion. Warren has habitually pointed to “other states around the country that have price gouging laws” including red states like Texas, an argument that Kernan shot back was “fallacious and misleading at best.”
(VOTE: Are You Supporting TRUMP Or KAMALA In November?)
“Kraft, you say, was 440% profit increase. The example you used, the prior quarter from the year before, they had a charge of $1.3 billion, an accounting change which wiped out profits. Then they earned what they normally earn,” he said before Warren tried interrupting again. “Let me finish now,” he tried before she laughed and pointed to herself. “You didn’t let me finish!”
“Look at the data. Come on, now. We have economic study after economic study. When there is more concentration in an industry we have seen much greater increases in the profit margins,” she got in as Kernan tried to get a word in edgewise. “Forty million eggs were destroyed because of avian flu,” he said, poking a hole in the senator’s common citation of alleged price gouging by the nation’s large egg producer. “Do you attribute inflation – that’s what you think we need to do to solve it?” Kernan asked incredulously.
“When you’ve got companies gouging consumers on prices, consumers need to know that they’ve got somebody on their side,” she replied, adding that 36 or 37 states have price gouging laws on the books, most of which are contained to emergency instances like hurricanes and flooding. Co-host Kelly Evans tried to interject, but Kernan got in one final parting shot. “This is the way you never lose an argument. Because no one can ever say anything back to you, senator.”
WATCH:
Sen. Warren on Thursday warmed up the crowd of liberal activists at the Democratic National Convention before Vice President Kamala Harris took the stage. She received more than a full minute of sustained applause from attendees who roared at her lewd joke about a meme involving Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) and a couch while getting in plenty of ripostes about former President Donald Trump. “Donald Trump, the felon, has no plans to lower costs for families … When did he ever fill up a gas tank or worry about a grocery bill?” she said.
(FREE RED HAT: “Impeached. Arrested. Convicted. Shot. Still Standing”)