As inflation continues to be a tax on all Americans' wages and a supply chain crisis goes largely unmitigated, the White House is content to flaunt the economic "progress" President Biden has allegedly made while brushing aside questions about why White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain amplified a claim that economic issues caused by Biden are "high class problems."
"Do you think two tweets means more," Psaki retorted in Thursday's briefing when asked about Klains recent posts quote tweeting and retweeting the "high class problems" assertion. "I'm just curious," she added sarcastically.
This ???? https://t.co/ymh53nEHAg
— Ronald Klain (@WHCOS) October 14, 2021
Psaki's attempt to defend the above tweet was a word salad: "The point here is while there are some critics who are saying, some of these critics are saying, is, we don't know, if they're saying that what they thought was great was when the unemployment rate was double what it is today or when people were locked in their homes and therefore gas prices were lower."
Finding some footing, Psaki turned to spinning recent data that may appear to be good economic news, but is actually more proof of the harm Biden's economic agenda has done to the American economy. "We're at this point because the unemployment rate has come down and been cut in half," she claimed, "because people are buying more goods, because people are traveling, and because demand is up, and because the economy is turning back on."
Jen Psaki makes a joke about the Chief of Staff's ignorant tweet on inflation and unemployment.
— MRCTV (@mrctv) October 14, 2021
Remember when Trump was criticized by the leftists for his 'harsh' tweets? pic.twitter.com/5PUlWy6AGZ
While September's jobs report did show a drop in the unemployment rate, the rest of the data was a total miss from expert forecasts. Even worse, the report showed that more Americans were dropping out of the labor market entirely, leading to a drop in the unemployment rate on which Psaki (and Biden previously) took a misguided victory lap.
"What the point is here is that we are at this point because we've made progress in the economy," Psaki continued. "And what would be worse in our view is if the unemployment rate was at 10 percent, people were out of work, hundreds of thousands of people were still dying of COVID, and people weren't able to lose their homes," she added, presumably meaning to say "people weren't able to leave their homes." Nevermind, apparently, the fact that it was overwhelmingly Democrat governors and local leaders who kept Americans stuck in their homes.
When pressed on whether or not the Biden administration was doing anything about Klain's tweets that seem to speak for the White House, concerns were brushed aside.
"Are we addressing the chief of staff's Twitter habits? It is not a top priority, I would tell you at this point in time," Psaki said. "I think it's important for anyone here to be able to tout points that they find interesting and that's the purpose of public speech," Psaki added.
The White House seems to see nothing wrong with labeling its economic crises being labeled "high class problems" and actually proof of "progress" despite the latest inflation data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics showing that the rising prices continue to get worse.
Nor does it see that the costs being driven up by Biden's inflationary policy are certainly not just problematic for "high class" Americans. Prices on groceries, rent, gas, and used vehicles affect lower- and middle-class Americans far more. For Psaki and the Biden administration, though, it's apparently not a concern.