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The Reality the American People Are Facing Tells a Very Different Story from John Harwood's Ratioed Tweet on Inflation

Rebecca Downs
Rebecca Downs  |  May 23, 2022 9:35 PM

On Sunday night, CNN's John Harwood tweeted out a take on inflation so stunningly tone-deaf, as well as hypocritical considering past tweets of his, that our friends at Twitchy put out not just one, but two posts about the ensuing reaction. 

Harwood, seemingly undeterred by the massive ratio, also tweeted again on Monday morning. 

Harwood was sharing his own analysis piece for CNN from Sunday seeking to answer "Why Washington can’t have an honest debate about inflation." 

While Harwood did begin his piece by pointing out that "Inflation distresses Americans for very good reasons. It depletes their wallets, creates anxiety about the future and endangers the national economy," that was largely lost on people, given what he highlighted in his tweets.

His analysis claimed:

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The resulting inflation has indisputably produced economic pain for millions of families, eroding the buying power of higher paychecks. At the same time, they have not been “crushed” badly enough to prevent them from spending at a steady pace.

That’s because families up and down the income scale, thanks to Covid relief checks, generally still have more money than before the pandemic; in the lingo of economic analysts, “household balance sheets” still have “excess savings.” Unemployment has fallen back below 4%.

People didn't take well to being told otherwise when what they've experienced has indeed been "crushing," or that they've felt "crushed."

Steve Cortes, in addition to saying such a "post belongs in the social media hall of shame for bad takes," offered a more in-depth rebuttal when it comes to the rising costs of items.

Siraj Hashmi also implied that the List was coming for Harwood.

Further, Harwood's take is wrong. Larry Summers, who served as Treasury Secretary during the Clinton administration, has been warning for many months that the American Rescue Plan Act was going to lead to inflation. The administration gaslit him for it, hardly a surprising move coming from this White House. 

We've discussed at great length last month's CBS News/YouGov poll, which had an emphasis on inflation as a key takeaway. On Sunday, a new poll was released. The numbers continue to get worse for President Joe Biden. While 69 percent disapproved of his handling of inflation in April, 70 percent now do. 

Polling on issues, including from Pew, Gallup, Quinnipiac, and FiveThirtyEight, also show that inflation remains a top issue. 

Meanwhile, Biden laughably claims that "I think our policies help, not hurt" when he's asked if he bears any responsibility for inflation. Keep in mind, the president claims he doesn't believe the polls, which becomes more and more believable every day that he's in office. 

Again, people really don't take too kindly to tone-deaf takes on inflation. In March, as I highlighted at the time, Bloomberg got dragged through the mud for an opinion piece by Teresa Ghilarducci making bizarre suggestions for how to avoid being affected by inflation if you make less than $300,000, with ideas such as using public transportation, not buying in bulk, going vegetarian, and even forgoing medical treatment for pets.