QUESTION ASKED: Why won’t the White House take inflation seriously?

Rather than actually tackling inflation, officials are more interested in explaining why those prices aren’t the full story. Biden chief of staff Ron Klain decided that the best response was a flip chart explaining that everything was actually great. It is one thing to tout your economic achievements, it is another to deny the existence of any problems. On inflation, the White House too often finds itself telling voters not to believe their lying eyes.

To some economists, frustration among Americans at the state of the economy is a head-scratcher. GDP is surging, why aren’t people feeling better, they ask themselves.

But as the New York Times’s David Leonhardt explained on Friday, this really isn’t as much of a paradox as these economists seem to think. In his blunt assessment, “Americans think the economy is in rough shape because the economy is in rough shape.”

As Obama economic adviser Jason Furman told the Washington Post recently, “The typical family is spending an extra $4,000 this year because of excess inflation. It does not seem like much of a mystery why people are upset when they have to spend thousands of additional dollars more because of inflation.”

Exit quote: “Not long ago, Klain called inflation a ‘quality problem.’ He has learned not to say something like that again in public. But one can’t help but feel that, privately at least, that is still the White House view.”

UPDATE (FROM GLENN): My latest utility bill was higher than the same month last year despite using less gas and electricity. That’s because gas prices for me are up 19%(!) and electricity is up 5% over last year. For me that’s annoying, for people closer to the edge it’s brutal and demands real sacrifice either in things like heating and cooling or somewhere else. Then there’s the increase in food and gasoline.