Goya Foods CEO rips 'big government' for dismantling nation, warns 'hard times' ahead

Goya CEO Bob Unanue took a swipe at "big government" and warned of "hard times" ahead for consumers and employers as the U.S. sees mounting economic pressures that could lead to future challenges.  

"We have an unfair competitive disadvantage with big government from one year to the next," Unanue told the "Varney & Co." 

The criticism from the CEO comes as the country faces rising inflation, supply chain backlogs and labor shortages. A concoction of these economic issues has hurled yet another challenge at U.S. companies.

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Highlighting the dramatic rise in prices, Unanue pointed out that the cost of a container of coconut water jumped from $1,800 to nearly $20,000 a container. 

"The big backlog jam is from Asia to the United States. We’re not producing things here. We’re buying everything. So the demand for these products has spiked the price of transportation," he explained. 

Unanue told FOX Business that the government has "stepped in as our competitor" and is "incentivizing" people not to work as the country’s largest Hispanic-owned food company grapples with employee shortages.

"Last year with COVID, we were working and we were a capitalist society. When the government stepped in and started printing money and giving it out and telling people, you don’t need a reason to get up in the morning," the Goya CEO argued.

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He noted that wages for warehouse and production workers have increased by about 70% since the onset of the pandemic as the company tries to work with limited employees.

"We are heading for hard times. We are dismantling this country. We’re getting soft. We have the government as our biggest competitor. Government needs to get out of the way and let us work," Unanue said.

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FOX Business’ Talia Kaplan contributed to this report