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The Washington Post editorial board slammed President Biden’s “magical thinking on inflation” on Wednesday, following the release of April’s numbers.
Inflation came in at 8.3% in April, showing a slight decrease from March’s record-high 8.5% year-over-year inflation. Prices remain high and the Consumer Price Index (CPI) was still higher than predicted.
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The editorial board noted that inflation was “one of the biggest challenges” the president faces and that American consumers from both political parties were frustrated about it. The editors said that Biden should have told the American people that he was taking inflation “very seriously” several months ago.
“The White House has been suffering from magical thinking on inflation, and, sadly, that continues,” the editorial board said, adding that in 2021, the Biden administration “wrongly” told people that the high prices wouldn’t last.
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When it was obvious inflation was not going to come down “on its own,” the editorial board said, the Biden administration turned to “a blame game.”
“One of its favorite talking points is to pin inflation on greedy corporations for hiking prices too much. That just doesn’t add up. Corporations did not become far more greedy in the past few months,” the authors argued, adding that what is really going on is “basic economics.”
The editorial board criticized Biden’s hammering of the Republican Party, noting that it wasn’t what Americans wanted to hear. The authors also said Sen. Rick Scott’s, R-Fla., tax plan was “terrible.”
The Washington Post editorial board argued that Biden needs to focus on the things he can do and on “how to fix supply chains and get more workers into the economy.”
“It’s wishful thinking that inflation is going to come down much by Election Day. To show voters he is on top of the problem, Mr. Biden needs to do more than blame someone else for high prices,” they concluded.
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The president said Tuesday that his policies “help, not hurt” inflation, but many economists have said that his American Rescue Plan contributed to increased prices.
Biden and his administration, along with some congressional Democrats, have consistently blamed Russian President Vladimir Putin, the war in Ukraine and the COVID-19 pandemic for inflation.