After initially echoing the White House’s claims that consumer price hikes were just “transitory” and then predicting that costs were starting to come down, the latest inflation reports are making it nearly impossible for the mainstream media to spin President Joe Biden’s disastrous economic record into a positive story.
In a recent article in the Wall Street Journal, writer Gabriel T. Rubin bypassed any pretense that groceries might become more affordable at any point in the near future.
Instead, his article included the bleak headline: “To Save Money, Maybe You Should Skip Breakfast.”
Of course, Rubin began the piece by blaming anything and everything except Biden’s policies for the soaring cost of eggs and other breakfast staples, writing that “a perfect storm of bad weather and disease outbreaks — and continued effects from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine” was at fault.
Many of Biden’s most prominent Republican critics, on the other hand, were quick to put the onus squarely on the president.
Skipping meals to make ends meet?
This is how badly Biden’s economy is beating down average Americans.https://t.co/WJegLYW5UN
— John Kennedy (@SenJohnKennedy) February 15, 2023
In a statement on Tuesday, however, the president attempted to paint the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics report, which revealed a higher-than-expected 6.4% annual inflation rate, as an encouraging development.
“Inflation in America is continuing to come down, which is good news for families and businesses across the country,” Biden claimed. “Today’s data confirm that annual inflation has fallen for seven straight months.”
While prices have modestly declined in recent months, the fact remains that they still have much more room to fall from the 40-year highs they hit last year. The Federal Reserve has set its target at 2% inflation and the rate was just 1.4% when Biden was inaugurated in 2021.
Nevertheless, Biden continued to repeat the widely disputed claim that his massive spending plan has helped moderate inflation and blamed Republicans for standing in his way.
“Unfortunately, many of my Republican friends in Congress seem intent on taking us in the opposite direction,” he added. “They have proposed repealing the Inflation Reduction Act, which would make inflation worse, shower billions of dollars on Big Pharma, and increase the deficit.”
The Republican National Committee had its own take on the latest economic reports.
“The bad news for American workers: Year-over-year real wages have now been negative for 22 straight months,” asserted committee spokesperson Tommy Pigott. “That’s a real wages recession for American workers, and why a record number of Americans say they are worse off under Joe Biden.”
