When the latest government report on inflation came out on Wednesday, showing that it had hit another grim milestone in June of 9.1%, President Joe Biden told the public not to worry.
That figure, he said, “is out of date.” Prices for key components of the Consumer Price Index have eased so far in July, he said. Besides, he said, inflation is higher “in many countries (in Europe) than in America.”
The public would do well to ignore anything Biden says about inflation, given his horrible track record when it comes to this topic. Since prices started their upward climb in March 2021, Biden has by turns claimed that it was the result of a booming economy, that it was temporary, that it was the result of supply chain bottlenecks, and most recently that Vladimir Putin is to blame.
When not making fact-free claims like those, Biden simply lies. Take his oft-repeated claim that Europeans have it far worse on inflation. Even Newsweek magazine felt obliged to conclude in its fact check “that Biden’s statement that U.S. inflation is the ‘lowest of almost every major nation’ is largely inaccurate.”
We don’t expect readers to simply take our word for it that Biden has been out to lunch on inflation. So we assembled a handy chart showing the annualized rate of inflation each month since January 2020. It matches up that record with statements Biden made about inflation.
See for yourself.
- “Milton Friedman isn’t running the show anymore.” April 25, 2020
- “Today I’m going to be signing shortly an executive order promoting competition to lower price — to lower prices.” July 9, 2021
- “Our experts believe and the data shows that most of the price increases we’ve seen are — were expected and expected to be temporary.” July 19, 2021
- “Right now, our experts believe — the major independent forecasters agree as well — that these bottlenecks and price spikes will reduce as our economy continues to heal. And while today’s consumer price report points in that direction, we will keep a careful eye on inflation each month, and trust the Fed to take appropriate action if and when it’s needed.” August 11, 2021
- “If you want to talk about actually lowering the cost of living for people in this country, my plan does just that.” September 16, 2021
- “CNN: The Wall Street Journal recently talked to like 67 financial experts who said that they saw high inflation going all the way — or deep into 2022. Do you think it’s going to last for a while? BIDEN: I — I don’t think so.” October 22, 2021
- “I’m confident that Chair Powell and Dr. Brainard’s focus on keeping inflation low, prices stable, and delivering full employment will make our economy stronger than ever before.” November 22, 2021
- “Today, we’re launching a major effort to moderate the price of oil.” November 23, 2021
- “It’s the peak of the crisis. … You’ll see it change sooner, quicker, more rapidly than people think.” December 10, 2021
- “We are making progress in slowing the rate of price increases.” January 12, 2022
- “The American people think the reason for inflation is the government is spending more money. Simply not true.” March 11, 2022
- “I’m doing everything I can to bring down the price to address Putin’s price hike.” April 21, 2022
- “Some of the roots of the inflation are outside of our control, to state the obvious.” May 10, 2022
- “I’m doing everything in my power to blunt Putin’s price hike and bring down the cost of gas and food.” June 10, 2022
As the public has been able to see through Biden’s smokescreen. Voters overwhelmingly blame Biden, not Putin, not COVID, not the weather, for inflation. As our I&I/TIPP Poll last month showed, even a majority of Democrats blame Biden’s policies for rising prices.
The problem is that Biden is either too dumb, too ignorant, or too pigheaded to admit he’s to blame and change course. So voters will have to force him to do so in November.
Editor’s note: Thanks to the readers who alerted us to the typo in the chart, which has been fixed,
— Written by the I&I Editorial Board
Nothing to choose from – he’s dumb, ignorant and pigheaded – which most of us knew ahead of the 2020 election that unaccountably put him in the White House. He’s been a fabulist his entire career and has only rarely demonstrated more than a nodding acquaintance with facts or the truth.
Biden* is the one who is out of date. And out to lunch.
The Dummy is in command of nothing. His puppet masters and handlers are doing all the thinking. He is surrounded by leftist fools and agitators.
Do not lose sight of the fact that the spike in energy prices since Biden took office has been INTENTIONAL. That’s what Obama promised. That’s what Kerry “the great transition”. Biden has said the same thing. This is the socialist-democrat agenda.
Spell check the figure — it’s “volcano”.
Fixed
What do I care where Europe’s economy is?
I live in the USA and Biden, they tell me, is president of my country. I expect him to do more than tell me it could be worse (I use the word ‘expect’ advisedly).
FJB
“Volcano.”
Please change the diagram title to “volcano” instead of “voclano”. Thanks.
The heart of the democrat Party is marxist and they use marxist tactics plus push marxist ideas/policies… they are arrogantly ignorant as regards freedoms n capitalism so failure is assured as we see year 1…
Not inept … this is deliberate use of marxist style policies that have failed before …so no accident!!!
We all know Joe Biden is just a talking head who parrots the teleprompter. So this is really the Democrats’ ineptitude (or plan) on inflation. The chart and points, perhaps without the rhetoric, make a great argument to present to your Democratic neighbors when explaining why we need to vote them out of office.
I’ve been wondering about a few books for the Presidential desk: leather bound so they look important, slightly aged so they don’t look brand new,guilded for a look of importance, with titles like “Inflation and How to Avoid It”,”Lowering Taxes makes Presidents Popular” That sort of thing.. Would that help? Couldn’t hurt.
“The problem is that Biden is either too dumb, too ignorant, or too pigheaded to admit he’s to blame and change course. ” Remove the word OR and insert the word AND. Now you’ve got it.