A Washington Post finance columnist said to MSNBC on Wednesday while prices are higher today for commonly purchased items, there are people who are able to absorb the costs and they should stop complaining about it.
Michelle Singletary said the Americans who did well during the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdowns should take a seat because there other Americans who might have to skip meals because of inflation. President Joe Biden has attempted to blame the historically high inflation rates on Russia's invasion of Ukraine but the rates were on the rise well before the war that started in late February.
"You know, I’m just going to say this...There’s a great deal of Americans where it is uncomfortable that they’re spending more, but they are not going to go under. You know, you got to stop complaining when there’s so many people who literally the inflation rate means they may only have two meals instead of three. There are Americans who did extremely well in the last two years in the market. You still have your job. And yeah, it’s costing you more for gas, but guess what, you’re still going to take that Fourth of July vacation. So I’m going to need you to calm down and back off," she said.
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"It feeds into this fear and people making decisions that create the very thing they’re fearful of. And you’re in that category, calm down. Stop looking at your portfolio," Singletary added. "You know what you can do with that energy? Help people, put food on the table of somebody else’s house because you have extra."
Singletary said while there are Americans who are struggling to deal with the increase in prices, "overall, many Americans are not suffering as much as they think they are, and we can think things into existence because we are unrealistically fearful of something that hasn’t happened yet."
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