Former Trump administration official Kevin Hassett said Friday that Vice President Kamala Harris’ proposal to “set the price of things” was “absolute socialism” during a Fox News appearance.

Harris is expected to announce the plan to ban “price gouging” by corporations on groceries during a Friday speech in North Carolina, which will be enforced by “harsh penalties” imposed by the Federal Trade Commission, according to the New York Times. Hassett said similar policies have caused shortages when tried historically in places like Cuba, Venezuela and the Soviet Union.

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‘Most Terrifying Proposal I Have Seen’: Former Trump Economic Advisor Reacts To Kamala Harris Price Control Policy pic.twitter.com/WQc9bJ6vuf

— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) August 16, 2024

“For an economist, this is about the most terrifying proposal I’ve ever seen. Because What Kamala Harris is saying is that the government needs to set the price of things and she’s starting with food, but I guess if they set the price of food, they might as well set the price of everything else,” Hassett told “Fox and Friends” co-host Brian Kilmeade. “They’ve also come out, you might recall, the Biden administration saying that they want to set rents, they think rents are too high, so they’re going to have the government decide what the rent for your apartment should be. This is absolute socialism and it never ends well. If you go back and look at countries that have tried this, like Cuba, Venezuela, Ukraine back when the Soviet Union organized it, then it leads to famine and shortages.”

Harris has cast blame on corporations for higher prices, claiming that alleged price gouging is responsible for inflation, but economists have said corporate behavior has not had as much effect on rising food costs as government stimulus efforts and low interest rates set by the Federal Reserve, the New York Times reported.

“I was just in Lisbon, Portugal, where they still have really aggressive rent control, and all of the apartments are empty because the people who own the buildings can’t afford to rent them to people because the rent is so low,” Hassett continued. “And so this is an absolute disaster, this is socialism at its highest, and the really chilling thing is, think about it, it is right before the Democratic National Convention, she is the nominee, she should be trying to moderate her positions to appeal to swing voters, and instead, she is going all in on socialism. So, what it means is these people are that way, these people really believe in socialism and want to change this country, and they are willing to say it up front right now, and it is astonishing she would do that.”

The Consumer Price Index increased by 2.9% year-over-year in July, down from a recent high of 9.1% in June 2022..Prices rose by over 20% since President Joe Biden and Harris took office in January 2021.

(Featured image credit: Screen Capture/CSPAN)