Kamala Harris’s cost-of-living plan will end in failure

But just because her strategy is understandable does not make it sensible. Her prescriptions risk taking America further down the road of self-defeating economic policies. The blame for this trajectory is certainly not Ms Harris’s alone: many other Democrats and Republicans, starting with Donald Trump, have already been pushing in such a direction, albeit with different emphases. Nevertheless, Ms Harris’s cost-of-living plan may open a new phase in the worrying odyssey. She takes aim at four categories of costs: housing; groceries; medical; and taxes. Although some of her ideas are good and helpful, many more would end up weighing on growth and driving up prices—the exact opposite of their intended effect.