Biden Responds To Inflation Report, Dismisses Price Increases And Touts Massive Spending Bill

On Tuesday, President Biden responded to the news that the inflation crisis worsened in August, dismissing the increase in prices and claiming that his so-called “Inflation Reduction Act” will reduce inflation despite multiple analyses suggests the bill will further drive up the rate of inflation.

“Today’s data show more progress in bringing global inflation down in the US economy,” Biden said. “Overall, prices have been essentially flat in our country these last two months: that is welcome news for American families, with more work still to do.  Gas prices are down an average of $1.30 a gallon since the beginning of the summer.  This month, we saw some price increases slow from the month before at the grocery store.  And real wages went up again for a second month in a row, giving hard-working families a little breathing room.”

“It will take more time and resolve to bring inflation down, which is why we passed the Inflation Reduction Act to lower the cost of healthcare, prescription drugs and energy,” Biden claimed. “And my economic plan is showing that, as we bring prices down, we are creating good paying jobs and bringing manufacturing back to America.”

According to a newly released report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, inflation worsened last month as prices rose 0.1% in August and 8.3% over the last year. Core inflation, which excludes volatile gas and energy prices, rose 0.6% in August and 6.3% over the last year.

The inflation increases were significantly worse than economists’ expectations.

“Economists had been expecting headline inflation to fall 0.1% and core to increase 0.3%, according to Dow Jones estimates. The respective year-over-year forecasts were for 8% and 6% gains,” CNBC reported.

The Democrats’ so-called “Inflation Reduction Act,” which is a $740 billion spending package primarily focused on climate change, is expected to worsen inflation and cut after-tax incomes for all Americans, according to a report from the nonpartisan Tax Foundation.

The Tax Foundation found that the bill would cause after-tax incomes for Americans in every income group except the top 1% to fall by 0.2%, and Americans in the top 1% would see after-tax incomes cut by 0.3%.

According to the report, “the Inflation Reduction Act would reduce long-run economic output by about 0.2 percent and eliminate about 29,000 full-time equivalent jobs in the United States. It would also reduce average after-tax incomes for taxpayers across every income quintile over the long run.”

“By reducing long-run economic growth, this bill may actually worsen inflation by constraining the productive capacity of the economy,” the report added.

The “Inflation Reduction Act” would also lead to worse inflation. As explained in the report, by “increasing spending, the bill worsens inflation, especially in the first four years, as revenue raisers take time to ramp up and the deficit increases. We find that budget deficits would increase from 2023 to 2026, potentially worsening inflation.”