An Ohio grocer turned Congressman denounced Vice President Harris’ price control scheme — warning of catastrophic consequences for businesses and consumers alike should it be enacted.
Freshman Rep. Michael Rulli, R-Ohio, whose family has owned Rulli Bros. Markets grocery chain for over a century, said profit margins are notoriously thin already, and any additional regulations could spell doom for the sector.
“This will be a nail in the coffin of this industry that no one can imagine,” Rulli told Fox News.
“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,” he continued.
Price controls will mean shortages of even the most basic household items, he warned.
“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.”
During her term as Vice President, Kamala Harris oversaw a period of sharp inflation which has devastated consumers and businesses.
Last week she unveiled a policy against “price gouging” that would limit how much stores could charge for certain foodstuffs.
Critics blasted the plan as naked communism, or “Kamunism” as The Post page 1 headline described it.
“Many of these smaller and independent grocery stores will go out of business. You’ve already seen it happening gradually over the last 20 or 30 years, but I would say just recently within the 80-mile circumference I’m sitting in right now, there’s been five grocery stores that have gone out of business in the last two years,” said Rulli, who came to Congress after a special election in June to replace retired GOP Rep. Bill Johnson.
Harris defenders point out that large food manufacturers have seen record profits in recent years.
Between 2019 and 2023 Hershey profits jumped 62% while General Mills and Kraft Heinz both saw 48% growth, according to The Wall Street Journal.
