This was almost exactly one year ago. Watch as the President of the United States – who'd recently signed a recklessly wasteful and inflationary $2 trillion "COVID relief" package (oops) – assured Americans that nobody should be seriously concerned about inflation. After all, he said, he didn't know "anybody" who was even "worried about" the problem. As the tweet below pointed out at the time, the very person Biden cited in his comment actually had sounded the alarm on precisely this issue, just days earlier. Conservative economists and Republicans had been warning against the Democrats' partisan "rescue" plan on inflationary and other grounds for months. We've come a long way, baby:
"I don't know anybody including Larry Summers...who's worried about inflation." - Biden.
— House Republicans (@HouseGOP) July 22, 2021
That is FALSE! Even Larry Summers is worried about inflation.
"I think most factors point to more cause for concern now than in 1966 when inflation accelerated..." - Summers on July 13th. pic.twitter.com/NiZ76aW8un
Summers had been cautioning anyone who would listen about the prospect of inflation long before Biden said this last July, sharply criticizing the administration's spending binge at the time. This story is from last March:
Larry Summers, a top economic adviser to former President Obama, blasted the $1.9 trillion coronavirus stimulus package signed by President Biden earlier this month as the “least responsible” economic policy in 40 years. Speaking on Bloomberg Television’s “Wall Street Week” on Friday, Summers outlined his predictions for the economy in light of the relief package. “I think this is the least responsible macroeconomic policy we’ve had in the last 40 years,” Summers said...Summers warned that there was a one-third chance that inflation would accelerate over the next several years, with the U.S. possibly facing stagflation, or economic stagnation... Summers, who served as Treasury secretary under former President Clinton, was one of the few left-leaning economists that has been critical of the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan. In an op-ed for The Washington Post in February, he warned that risk of inflation associated with the proposal could have “consequences for the dollar and financial stability.” The Biden administration has pushed back against inflation fears, citing the risks of not doing enough to stimulate the economy due to the pandemic.
Another prominent Democratic economist has subsequently acknowledged that the misnamed "Rescue" package – opposed by every Republican in Congress – was an "extraordinary" and historic mistake. Like Summers, he's now very concerned that a recession is coming, which would be yet another gut punch to the American people. Team Biden is downplaying that painful risk, but they lack credibility. Watch this brutal montage, stitched together by the RNC, reminding everyone of how this crew talked about the inflation wave that was building, month after month. And as you watch, bear in mind that people like Larry Summers had been blowing the whistle on the growing crisis starting in early 2021:
Two straight minutes of Democrats LYING about inflation pic.twitter.com/xd8uDqv5yK
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) July 13, 2022
Notice the abrupt transition from "it's going to be fine, don't worry" and "it's just transitory" to "it's really the fault of ________", starting at the tail end of 2021. It was COVID. It was supply chains. After the Ukraine invasion, it was Putin. There are elements of truth to all of that, but Biden's spending and anti-US energy policies are significant contributing factors to the problem. And as many people have pointed out, many times, the precipitous climb in inflation didn't start with Putin's war. It started soon after Biden took office and promptly sent trillions of dollars out the door:
Look at this chart. Blaming Putin for inflation may be the biggest lie of the Biden White House. Which is saying something. https://t.co/FVZe1AfGpj
— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) April 12, 2022
This is the whole ballgame.
— Matt Whitlock (@mattdizwhitlock) June 10, 2022
Under Joe Biden Americans are taking a MASSIVE pay-cut as inflation has run so far ahead of wage growth. Putin had much less to do with it than Biden’s spending binge.
(Chart by @AndyPuzder with my additions in green) pic.twitter.com/d0sC1ymPnt
It must be stated repeatedly that nearly every Democrat in Congress voted for the "rescue" plan (one of the very few who didn't has since been primaried out of his seat by a leftist), and all but three (including two senators who were aggressively harassed over it) voted to toss an additional $5 trillion inflation grenade on top of it, months later. Insanity. The only reason record-setting inflation isn't even more disastrous is that Joe Biden could only get approximately 99 percent of his party to support "Build Back Better," and Republicans stood firm. Even without BBB's breathtaking spending and tax increases on middle class households (while granting tax breaks to blue state millionaires), the American people are facing runaway inflation, bruising gas prices, and a likely recession looming. We got a hint that yesterday's awful inflation report would be worse than expected when a top White House spinmeister tried to preemptively soften the blow on Tuesday with "context":
So it's gonna be ugly https://t.co/Ld9aSS1emn
— Liam Donovan (@LPDonovan) July 12, 2022
And then the blow arrived, as my colleagues covered in multiple posts:
9.1 percent inflation, year on year. Worse than every single one of these estimates. https://t.co/AbcLQuKqFA
— Charles C. W. Cooke (@charlescwcooke) July 13, 2022
Not good: Inflation rose 1.3% in June alone -- the biggest monthly gain of the pandemic.
— Heather Long (@byHeatherLong) July 13, 2022
Yes, gas accounted for ~50% of that increase, but food saw its 6th consecutive increase of 1% of more in a single month and rent continues to climb. pic.twitter.com/l78DTX328D
As inflation hits 9.1%, the average weekly earnings decreased 1% in June and hours worked dropped 0.9%. Real wages are down 3.6% in the last year.
— Joel Griffith (@joelgriffith) July 13, 2022
Many Americans are earning less, finding less full-time work, and paying more.
Inflation continues to hit hard:
— Heather Long (@byHeatherLong) July 13, 2022
Groceries: up 12% in past year -->Biggest annual increase since 1979
Chicken: Up 19% in past year-->Biggest increase ever
Gas up 60%-->Biggest since 1981
Electricity: Up 14% -->Biggest since 2006
Rent: Up 5.8% -->Biggest since 1986
Astoundingly, with inflation running rampant, and a charging threat of recession, congressional Democrats are currently in serious discussions to...raise taxes on small businesses that employ tens of millions of Americans. I'll leave you with an incredulous Mitch McConnell reacting to that proposal:
The only way to put a stop to the madness, or at least slow it down, is by depriving Democrats of the unified power they've enjoyed since January of last year. How's that been going for you? UPDATE:
Wholesale inflation surges 11.3% in June, accelerating more than expected https://t.co/5qL3NMA0YS
— Fox News (@FoxNews) July 14, 2022
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