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Shark Tank<\/em>\u2019s Kevin O\u2019Leary is out on Harris\u2019s economic agenda.<\/p>\n In an interview with CNN on Saturday, the 70-year-old investor tore into several components of vice president and presidential hopeful Kamala Harris\u2019s plan to make the cost of living more affordable for everyday Americans, beginning with her proposal to implement a federal ban on price gouging on groceries.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThey tried that in Venezuela, Cuba, North Korea, the USSR,\u201d O\u2019Leary said. \u201cNo, that\u2019s not going to work.\u201d<\/p>\n Harris announced a broad economic platform at a rally in North Carolina last week<\/a> that includes expansions for child tax credits and funding for affordable housing. She also announced a plan to penalize big corporations for price spikes on everyday essentials, a policy that has already become political fodder for conservatives.<\/p>\n O\u2019Leary isn\u2019t alone in comparing Harris\u2019 price gouging proposal to models in socialist states. The Wall Street Journal<\/em> editorial board on Friday called the plan a resort \u201cto Venezuelan-style left-wing populism,<\/a>\u201d and argued price controls have failed everywhere they\u2019ve been tried, \u201cfrom Moscow to Caracas.\u201d The Trump campaign<\/a> also associated the policy with Cuba and Venezuela following the rollout of Harris\u2019s agenda on Friday.<\/p>\n The cost of groceries has become a touchstone of the persistent inflation President Biden has grappled with since entering office, which has now become a pivotal issue in the presidential race. Food prices have risen more than 20% in the last four years<\/a>, and more than two-thirds of Americans say food prices are where they\u2019ve seen the effects of inflation the most<\/a>. Earlier this month, Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren sent a letter to Kroger<\/a>, one of the biggest grocery chains in the U.S., accusing the supermarket of price gouging<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n O\u2019Leary also ripped the vice president\u2019s new housing platform, which is targeting 3 million new homes by the end of her first term. The plan includes proposals to provide $40 billion in new funding for housing construction and $25,000 grants toward down payment assistance for first-time homebuyers.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you give $25,000 to anybody in a constrained market, you cause inflation,\u201d O\u2019Leary said. \u201cSo if there\u2019s three houses for sale on the street and everybody bidding on it gets another $25,000, all of that attributes to the seller, and you cause the price of the house to go up because there\u2019s no supply.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Harris has also proposed new legislation that would crack down on investors who buy houses and apartments in bulk to flip at a higher price.\u00a0<\/p>\n Skyrocketing home prices have left many first-time homebuyers feeling locked out of the housing market<\/a>. In an interview with Fortune<\/em> following President Joe Biden\u2019s State of the Union address earlier this year, Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Adewale Adeyemo said the affordability crisis wouldn\u2019t be solved until the housing supply increased dramatically<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cEverybody knows in real estate\u2026that it\u2019s not controlled by federal mandate,\u201d O\u2019Leary said. \u201cHousing is state by state. She can do nothing to solve that problem. There\u2019s no way she\u2019s building 3 million houses. Which state is going to give her that mandate?\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n