To the editor:

Both major parties play to voters’ fears, claiming that victory by their opponents would be disastrous. Unfortunately, both parties are right.

Economic policies proposed by both Donald Trump and Kamala Harris defy economic history and reason. The relationships among supply, demand and prices will not — in fact, cannot — change.

Trump’s proposed tariffs will increase costs and decrease supply of goods they protect. That is how tariffs work: by limiting the supply of foreign goods, they increase prices consumers must pay. Who benefits? Industries protected from foreign competition.

Harris proposes price controls, which have never worked and never will. Keeping prices of products below what the market would pay reduces supply while increasing demand, which, among other ills, leads to black markets and gaming the system.

And giving $25,000 to potential home buyers will not “solve the affordable housing crisis” because subsidizing buyers will increase demand without increasing supply. The affordable housing shortage is not a demand problem, but one of supply. Builders don’t build affordable housing because regulations imposed by governments decrease builders’ incentives to build. Instead, they build mansions for which wealthy buyers are more willing and able to pay for amenities and luxury items. To increase the supply of affordable housing, either decrease costly regulations or subsidize builders, not homebuyers. Governments can no more defy economic principles than you or I can defy gravity, and the results of defiance are disastrous.

Joe Reitz,

Eudora