No One Buys the Bidenflation Blame Game
As working families watch their budgets shrink and prices climb, the Biden Administration is attempting to pass the buck for their own incompetence.
In fact, members of the media and economic experts have been quick to highlight how far-fetched the Administration’s inflation blame game has become. Here are a few:
The Hill: President Biden is blaming everyone else for surging inflation:
“We know inflation is a growing problem because President Biden has repeatedly gone out of his way to shift the blame away from his administration.
“At a press briefing on Dec. 13, 2021, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki accused ‘meat conglomerates’ of succumbing to ‘corporate greed.’ Psaki then charged meat companies with profiteering off COVID, saying, ‘You could call it jacking up prices during a pandemic.’
“America’s meat producers seem to have a legitimate beef of their own with this White House. If ‘corporate greed’ is driving prices higher, as Psaki claims, why was inflation tame until March 2021?”
“President Biden is facing mounting criticism for inflation’s rise to its highest level since 1982. Unfortunately, the White House’s latest response is to blame greedy businesses.
“Economists across the political spectrum are rightly calling out the White House for this foolishness. Even some within the White House are questioning this approach, The Post reports.”
Wall Street Journal: The Democrats’ Inflation Blame Game:
“[T]he president and Democrats other than Sen. Joe Manchin remain firmly entrenched in a state of denial. In their telling, this inflation has nothing to do with their spending policy. This is the same argument we heard in the mid-1970s. […]
“But as American workers suffer declining real wages, Democrats and outside experts assure us that spending another $4.9 trillion to fully fund the Build Back Better plan is the key to ending inflation.”
Former Obama-Biden Economic Adviser Larry Summers:
“The emerging claim that antitrust can combat inflation reflects ‘science denial’. There are many areas like transitory inflation where serious economists differ. Antitrust as an anti-inflation strategy is not one of them.”
The Wall Street Journal Editorial Board: What Inflation Costs Workers:
“The current inflation has caught the Federal Reserve and Biden Administration entirely by surprise, and they’re still not sure what to do about it other than to blame someone else.”
Former Obama-Biden Economic Adviser Steve Rattner:
“On average, this inflation, the 7 percent inflation last year has wiped out all the wage gains of the average American. You can see here the dramatic increase in inflation from anything we’ve experienced in the last 40 years.”
Former Obama-Biden Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers Jason Furman:
“Everyone saying everything will be a lot clearer in the next few months should recall that they also thought that a few months ago.”
Federal Reserve Chairman Jay Powell (who has been nominated by President Biden for a second term):
“To get the very strong labor market we want with high participation, it is going to take a long expansion. To get a long expansion, we are going to need price stability. High inflation is a severe threat to achieving maximum employment and to achieve the long expansion that could give us that.”
“With U.S. inflation reaching a four-decade high of 7% in December, the world’s biggest economy has been inflating like its 1982.
“Prompted by labor shortages, supply-chain disruptions, and elevated energy costs, the end of 2021 saw inflation readings accelerate and the Federal Reserve’s forward guidance turn hawkish. Although employees’ wages are rising, the U.S. added just 199,900 jobs in December—half of economists’ consensus estimate—and job openings remained 47.5% higher than pre-pandemic levels. Bureau of Labor Statistics data released yesterday showed that energy costs remained the top driver of inflation in 2021, rising 29% year-over-year.”