CNBC’s Joe Kernen blatantly misleads about Kamala Harris’ economic policies

Written by Zachary Pleat

Published

During an interview on Tuesday prior to the presidential debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, CNBC Squawk Box co-anchor Joe Kernen blatantly misled viewers about Harris’ plans to tackle price gouging and raise capital gains taxes for the rich.

Kernen posed questions to his guest, former Dallas Federal Reserve President Richard Fisher, about some of the vice president’s proposals, but Kernen seemed to fabricate two of the economic proposals he mentioned, and he left out crucial information about a third:

From the September 10, 2024, edition of CNBC's Squawk Box

JOE KERNEN (CO-ANCHOR): So that sticks in your craw more than — I don’t even want to list it for ya. I think it’s kind of funny, though. Price control — where do you want me to start? Price controls, taxing unrealized gains, 45% capital gains tax —

[CROSSTALK]

RICHARD FISHER: I’m about to be 76 years old —

KERNEN: Any of those bother you, or are you just —

FISHER: Yeah, price controls lead to —

KERNEN: OK, how about taxing unrealized gain?

FISHER: You know, I don’t know how that possibly could be good.

KERNEN: OK. How about a 45% capital gains rate?

FISHER: I’m against that as well.

Unfortunately for Kernan and the CNBC viewers who tuned in for this segment, Harris did not propose price controls. This is an intentional distortion of her proposal to combat price gouging at the federal level, which is modeled on existing state laws against price gouging in an industry rife with price fixing by monopolistic corporations. 

Just weeks after Harris proposed the first ever federal ban on price gouging, grocery giant Kroger seemed to admit it engaged in price gouging by raising the cost of milk and eggs “significantly higher than cost inflation.”

Harris’ actual proposal made no mention of price controls, which is a fabrication pushed by Trump-aligned media and those who try to appease them. And Kernen knows this; economists Justin Wolfers and Michael Pyle patiently explained to him that Harris’ proposal was not price controls.

Kernen’s other blatant misinformation was his comment that Harris is calling for a 45% capital gains tax rate. This is false; as CNBC itself reported nearly a week ago, Harris proposed a 28% long-term capital gains tax rate for millionaires, breaking from President Joe Biden’s proposal of a 40% rate.

As for Kernen’s mention of Harris’ proposal to tax unrealized capital gains, he left out important information there too. As CNBC also previously reported, this proposal would affect only certain households with more than $100 million in tradable assets, and it is known as a billionaire tax. Any suggestion otherwise is misleading.