Joe Biden needs to be more “honest,” less “disingenuous” and “own” the fact that the inflation U.S. consumers now are struggling to cope with is all his.
That’s according to Steve Rattner, who was on Barack Obama’s Task Force on the Auto Industry that told car makers what they had to do back in the day.
Biden and his team of surrogates repeatedly have tried to blame the inflation – which reached 7.9% Thursday without counting the cost of food and fuel – on Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose invasion of Ukraine and war on its civilians has roiled energy markets around the world.
But in fact, Biden has been in a running war on America’s energy industry since the first day in office, cutting of the Keystone XL pipeline project, making it harder for natural gas projects to be developed and attacking the process to allow drilling permits.
Inflation already was rampaging before Putin crossed the line and attacked Ukrainians.
Well, no. These are Feb #’s and only include small Russia effect. This is Biden’s inflation and he needs to own it. https://t.co/WsJjn6picV
— Steven Rattner (@SteveRattner) March 10, 2022
Rattner, responding to Biden’s social media claim that the high inflation is because of Russian sanctions, said, “Well, no. These are Feb #’s and only include small Russia effect. This is Biden’s inflation and he needs to own it.”
The Washington Examiner explained that Rattner and other Obama officials, such as former National Economic Council Director Larry Summers, “have consistently warned about the Biden administration’s ability to reverse inflation and lower prices for consumers.”
Rattner, in the New York Times, said Biden was being “disingenuous” for blaming supply chain issues for surging inflation.
“The White House needs to be more honest as it rolls out initiatives. It has promised robust antitrust enforcement, but while that is long overdue, it will have no discernible impact on competition or prices for years. And the high prices of meat and hearing aids, both of which Mr. Biden has vowed to address, are not at the heart of the current problem,” Rattner wrote then. “The Biden administration needs to shift its approach. In particular, with the economy steaming along, it should make deficit reduction as important as its other initiatives.
“But here again, Mr. Biden has been disingenuous. His Build Back Better plan claims to be deficit neutral, but that assertion is made credible only by using the fuzziest math,” Rattner concluded.
Biden has claimed that a “large contributor” to inflation was a surge in gas and energy prices – because of “Putin’s aggressive actions.”
“A large contributor to inflation this month was an increase in gas and energy prices as markets reacted to Putin’s aggressive actions,” Biden claimed. “As I have said from the start, there will be costs at home as we impose crippling sanctions in response to Putin’s unprovoked war, but Americans can know this: the costs we are imposing on Putin and his cronies are far more devastating than the costs we are facing.”
But actually, Putin invaded Ukraine only a few days before February ended.
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