welcome back now according to polling the economy remains a top issue among voters prices as you know they've shot up nearly 20% since both Biden and Harris took office small businesses are working to navigate the economic uncertainty that comes with a high stake selection like this let's hear from owners themselves joining me now Shan nagpal president and founder of the nagpa restaurant group and partner at Westcon development and Jason Ferrera grocery store owner appreciate you both being here Jason let me start with you small business owner whose policies are working for you right now what
do you want to hear in terms of the future election well I think we we stand in a very unique position right now where we have a former president running for office and we have someone that's been in the administration for the last Almost close to four years and in my my uh point of view is that the previous administration uh things felt a lot more stable uh it seemed that uh my customers were not complaining as much about pricing m and about and about other things that they have to pay for because you know
the supermarket is a is a big place for conversation yeah uh in the neighborhood and um you know listening to both candidates you know I know that Mr Trump is a a businessman he understands uh even though he's not a small business owner but he understands the dynamic of a business and when I hear um kamla Harris uh make her um presentation I don't really get anything that resounds with me you know I don't hear anything that I would call concrete or or specific Sean who do you trust on the economy well I think it
comes down to um what the intentions of each um candidate's policies are the true intentions and I think that what's important for me as a business owner is you know I have businesses in various Industries uh businesses that deal with Wall Street every day and businesses that deal with Main Street every day so I see everything on a large spectrum and uh you want a candidate uh that has policies that are built in the foundation of the American dream um entrepreneurship Innovation and someone that understands business and understands what it takes to support those people
that can put other people in positions to succeed so I think uh clearly that comes from um you know former president Trump and uh you want to continue to hear policies that will support uh what it is that you think is important as an American Jason KLA Harris says that one way she wants to tackle inflation is to take on grocery store owners she says that they are price gouging are you price gouging absolutely not and uh what people have to remember is that you know the grocery industry in particular is a very competitive place
I mean people have so many options uh they can shop at the local supermarket they can shop at the big store they can go to a club they can buy online they can Google pricing at it's at their fingertips all the information so it's in my best interest as a as a supermarket operator that I if I can't be the cheapest I want to be around that price otherwise I'm not going to get any business in my store so I think for any politician to uh to say that they can they can affect the pricing
I think is a very naive statement because it's such a dynamic and and and complicated process from from from farming and Manufacturing all the way down to when it gets to your grocery shelf and everyone in that process is trying to buy at the best price because they want their business to be profitable you're probably lucky to be turning a profit your margins are probably one to 2% correct our our margins are razor thin yeah um and then uh I was just speaking to Sean earlier that you know our expenses are increasing at a faster
rate than what we can keep our margins at Sean I want to talk to you about another part of your business outside restaurants real estate some of your business models you go into underdeveloped areas and you're able to turn those properties around right um we've talked a lot about affordability issues um some proposals from Trump have talked about opening up federal land for new development um both candidates have talked about lowering regulation cutting the red tape how much does that move the needle for you well I think the key is um if you're going to
open up federal land for additional development um it's all about jobs and bringing jobs into those markets typically where I'm investing and bringing um uh you know my finances to are underdeveloped tertiary markets in which jobs are in need uh people need a place to go people need a place to see economic development in their local neighborhoods and in their areas so that does move the needle for me as an investor if I see that a candidate is specifically focused on bringing bringing in um development to areas that need it I'm going to follow as
an investor and bring those investors with me as well I just quickly want to play a sound bite on um kamla Harris talking about how she is a capitalist take a listen and respond I a capitalist I believe in free and fair market I believe in consistent and transparent rules of the road to create a stable business environment and I know that the power of American innovation I've been working with entrepreneurs and business owners my whole career and I believe companies need to play by the rules and just about 20 seconds each left do the
policy proposals match up with those statements I don't see how to me it just sounds like jargon no when you talk about taxing unrealized capital gains I think it's the antithesis of capitalism that is a whole other conversation that I wish we had time for because I don't understand the way that math works but Sean and Jason we're going to have to leave it there really appreciate both of you coming here and telling us sort of how it is to operate as a small business owner in this environment thank you both appreciate your time thank
you
