This week, we learned that inflation in March increased 8.4% over the previous year compared to 7.9% for the year ending in February. This is the highest overall inflation rate since December 1981. After months of insisting that inflation was actually a good thing or that it was transitory, Americans are clearly fed up with the way inflation is hurting their wallets.
For several weeks now, Joe Biden has been trying to get Americans to blame Putin, and believe it or not he’s still trying.
“I’m doing everything within my power by executive orders to bring down the price and address the Putin price hike,” Biden said Tuesday.
It’s comically sad that Joe Biden is still trying to blame Vladimir Putin. Polls show that Americans aren’t falling for it, and, unfortunately for Biden, his cheerleaders in the media are having a hard time covering for him too.
Last month, when we got the previous inflation report, CNN’s chief business correspondent, Christine Romans, noted that inflation was accelerating well before the Russian invasion.
“Inflation is accelerating, these are pre-war numbers as well … Many people had thought we’d see a peak in inflation in March maybe, well now we have a war in Russia, not captured — war in Ukraine — not captured here.”
She’s not the only one at CNN who isn’t falling for Biden’s talking point.
On Tuesday, CNN’s Don Lemon dismissed Biden’s efforts to blame Putin for inflation and told his audience that “inflation was a major concern way before Putin’s invasion.”
“How much of this 8.5% inflation rate can be blamed on the war in Ukraine?” Lemon asked. “Because, despite what President Biden says, inflation was a major concern way before Putin’s invasion.”
Lemon’s guest, Austan Goolsbee, an economics professor at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, agreed, though he argued that the rise in gas and energy prices has accelerated since the invasion. Nevertheless, he conceded that Lemon was “quite right that inflation began before the Russians began massing troops.”
Gee, neither a CNN host nor a guest could sugarcoat inflation for Biden? Ouch. And Lemon wasn’t finished calling Biden out.
“Gas prices are up more than 18% last month, alone. Even when you strip out the more volatile food and energy categories, prices still rose 6.5%…over last year, which is the biggest jump since August of 1982.”
He also noted that “food costs are up 8.8% from last year. Used cars are up more than 35%. Of course, unemployment is low at just 3.6%.” He also added that even though wages are rising, “it’s hard for people to enjoy the gains when they are paying so much for food and gas prices. It’s wiping out the raises or the cost of living increases or whatever it is.”
At this point, if Biden can’t convince his biggest cheerleaders at CNN that Putin is the culprit behind inflation, then what makes him think he can still convince the general public? This “Putin price hike” talking point is just embarrassing, and he really needs to get his team to come up with a better line that’s at least slightly less ridiculous.
