President Joe Biden’s questionable assertion that inflation was 9% when he began office compelled the White House to defend it this week.
Although Biden has stated this twice, in January 2021, inflation was really only 1.4%. In June 2022, after he had been in office for about 18 months, it did rise to 9%. Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre discussed broader economic factors in response to a reporter bringing up the disparity.
She explained, “He was making the point that the conditions for inflation existed when he joined the government.” “The epidemic broke our supply networks and disrupted our economy, causing inflation all around the world.”
The reporter had questioned if Biden was purposefully misrepresenting the public or if he had just failed to notice that inflation was 1.4% at the time he assumed office.
Jean-Pierre went on: “Reopening following the epidemic unavoidably raised inflation by unleashing pent-up demand.” In 2021, the second term saw an annualized core CPI [consumer price index] of 9%. He was talking about the circumstances that led to that.
Since the spring of his first year in office, when inflation started to rise, Biden has struggled. After reaching a peak of 9.1% in June 2022, it fell significantly over the following year. By May 2021, it had risen to 5%. Even so, it is still high today at 3.4%, far more than the Federal Reserve’s 2% goal.
“No president’s had the run we have had in terms of creating employment and driving down inflation,” Biden said in an interview with CNN, announcing the 9% claim. When I got to work, it was 9%. After that, he sent Yahoo Finance an identical version of it, saying, “It was at 9% when I walked in, and it is now down about 3%.”
With the comment, “Biden’s price rises are destroying the American dream,” former President Donald Trump was among the Republicans delighted to draw attention to the mistake.
Author: Blake Ambrose
