There’s an old saying that even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while. It suggests even an incompetent or clueless person can stumble across a valid point.
In a speech on Tuesday in Florida, where he was campaigning for Charlie Cris, the Democratic nominee for governor, President Joe Biden accidentally touched on the terrible economic conditions he and his administration caused when the topic turned to inflation.
Being Joe Biden, he was still only partially right in his terminology. Biden also probably did not realize how he implicated himself and his policies in the description he gave.
Inflation is devastating the American economy. In September, the government reported consumer prices rose 8.2 percent compared to the previous year.
In an August report, Forbes magazine assistant assigning editor John Schmitt described inflation as “the gradual rise in prices and slow decline in purchasing power of your money over time,” although the decline has not been very slow recently.
Biden discussed Social Security and Medicare in his Tuesday speech. Even before the runaway inflation of the Biden presidency, those two programs were in financial trouble.
The New York Times reported in mid-October that Social Security’s cost of living increase of 8.7 percent this year, driven by high inflation, could deplete the Social Security Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund one to two years sooner than the previous estimate of 2034.
Republicans have called for more responsible long-term management of Social Security and Medicare. Biden criticized their proposals in his Tuesday speech, which led to his inflation comments.
Biden: “That’s what I call inflation. The end of the month. What you have left. You have no money. That’s inflation. What’s, what do you, the things you need. Are they going up? They are. They are.” pic.twitter.com/2QMsYQ2USO
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) November 1, 2022
“That’s what I call inflation,” Biden said, according to a White House transcript. “The end of the month. What you have left. You have no money. That’s inflation. What’s, what do you, the things you need. Are they going up? They are. They are.”
Strictly speaking, part of what Biden described was not inflation itself, but the result of inflation: Individuals having no money left after getting necessities.
Theoretically, other factors might cause those shortages for individuals, like underemployment, overspending or poor money management, but inflation is hitting even the most careful budgeters.
Biden did mention rising prices, but what he didn’t explain was his role in weakening our dollar’s purchasing power.
Biden’s war on American energy independence drove prices up, starting on day one of his term when he canceled the Keystone XL pipeline.
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Biden’s latest bizarre solution to high oil prices is to threaten producers with higher taxes, which would just increase prices more.
Reckless Democratic government spending drove inflation as well.
In a November 2021 commentary piece in The New York Times, Steve Rattner, an Obama administration Treasury Department official, called the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Democrats passed in March of that year the “original sin” of the inflation surge. No Republicans supported the misguided bill.
Democrats followed up with more spending in the Inflation Reduction Act — which also passed without one Republican vote.
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Climate czar John Kerry has admitted the bill was misnamed. Far from reducing inflation, the Inflation Reduction Act wastes money on advancing a radical climate agenda. No wonder the stock market tanked while Biden tried to brag about it.
Americans are struggling under the Biden administration’s mismanagement and the misplaced priorities of a Democratic Congress. The midterm elections, now less than a week away, are going to show if they hold Democrats and Biden responsible.
Some Twitter users made the connection.
Does Joe realize that he is to blame for that?
— Molala (@MollyLa24) November 1, 2022
So to recap…many of us have been in inflation for some time now
— Janette Seaver (@duck0925) November 1, 2022
Instead of attacking Republicans pointing out looming problems, Biden needs to look in the mirror to understand why people are broke in the economy he created.
He can’t be a blind squirrel all the time.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
