9.1 percent
No one was expecting this morning’s inflation numbers to paint an especially rosy picture. A survey of economists predicted an 8.8 percent year-on-year rise in prices and the White House had been working overtime managing expectations. But the news was worse than expected, with a headline price rise of 9.1 percent in June over the same month last year, yet another forty-year-record.
It’ll be hard for the White House to put a positive spin on these numbers, but Brian Deese, director of Biden’s National Economic Council, tried his best. “While today’s report shows unacceptably high inflation, energy made up 1/2 of the monthly increase & the report is backward looking,” he tweeted. Deese also said that the news underscored “how urgent it is for Congress to pass legislation to lower costs & the deficit.”
But the thing worth noting is how little there is for Deese to point to when it comes to either Biden’s inflation-fighting track record — there isn’t one — or plans to bring prices down beyond a possible reconciliation bill in which such measures would be a trifling sideshow. The administration had reportedly been considering dropping tariffs to ease the pressure, but the details of those plans revealed a limited scheme that would not do much for prices.
Biden is keen to emphasize the importance of the independence of the Federal Reserve and its responsibility to fight inflation. That’s true. And another rate rise looks nailed on after today’s news. But there are things the administration could be doing that it isn’t doing.
Marc Goldwein, senior vice president and senior policy director for the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, made the case for more fiscal restraint in a recent Barron’s op-ed:
Congress and the president should pass a big budget deal, focused on reducing inflation while improving our nation’s long-term fiscal trajectory. Such a package would go a long way toward helping the Fed restore inflation to a normal pace.
At a minimum, politicians should stop making the Fed’s job harder. Gas tax holidays, student debt cancellation, Buy America requirements, ongoing Covid-era stimulus, and new debt-financed legislation will only add to inflationary pressures. The more inflation the Fed must fight, the higher the risk they will put us into a recession.
“While today’s headline inflation reading is unacceptably high, it is also out of date,” President Joe Biden said in a statement today. “Tackling inflation is my top priority — we need to make more progress, more quickly, in getting price increases under control.” And yet, no matter how bad the numbers, he still has little to offer in the way of actions to back up those words.
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Out of touch
The post-Trump, post-pandemic news slump is, by now, a well-established phenomenon. But the trend is enduring, with Americans tuning out on a remarkable scale. Axios reports on dramatic changes to the news habits of Americans in the first half of 2022 compared to the same period in 2021. Social media interactions with news articles has dropped by 50 percent, cable news prime time viewership is down 19 percent, news media app sessions are down 16 percent and unique visits to the top five news websites is down 18 percent.
Axios attributes the decline to Americans having “grown weary of what feels like a never-ending cycle of bad news” and argues that “a country facing one calamity after another appears desperate for diversions.”
But is that the full story? I was interested to note that Fox News is bucking the ratings decline on cable news. Figures for MSNBC and CNN are down 16 and 35 percent respectively. But Fox’s numbers are up slightly.
Part of the explanation surely also lies in a disconnect captured by a recent Rasmussen graphic listing voters’ top ten priorities ahead of the midterms and the top five issues covered by legacy media. Staggeringly, none of the former make it into the latter. Voters are worried about gas prices, inflation, the economy and violent crime. The media is talking about climate change, Ukraine, January 6 and Covid. In other words, the media isn’t focusing on the things their viewers are worried about.
[On an entirely unrelated note, you can subscribe to The Spectator World here.]
Coup d’état? I’ll show you a coup d’état
I’m starting to wonder if John Bolton might enjoy playing up to the uber-neocon caricature. There was the photograph of Bolton, then Donald Trump’s national security advisor, holding a yellow legal pad at a White House press briefing with the words “5,000 troops to Colombia” just about legible in his spidery handwriting.
Then there was his interview on CNN with Jake Tapper yesterday. Discussing the latest House January 6 Committee hearing, Tapper claimed that “one doesn’t have to be brilliant to attempt a coup.” Au contraire. “I disagree with that,” said Bolton. “As somebody who has planned coups d’état, not here but in other places, it takes a lot of work. And that is not what [Trump] did.”
Bolton went on to discuss failed attempts to oust Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro. “I feel like there’s other stuff you’re not telling me,” said Tapper. “I’m sure there is,” said the former White House advisor.
What you should be reading today
Jeff Groom: No one wants to join the military anymore
Ben Domenech: The media’s Glenn Youngkin rope-a-dope
Teresa Mull: The sad demise of American car culture
Alex Tabarrok, Marginal Revolution: A pox on the FDA
Edgar Capel, City Journal: Don’t abandon the university — save it
Christopher Caldwell, Claremont Review of Books: Pledging allegiance
Poll watch
President Biden job approval
Approve: 38.2 percent
Disapprove: 57.2 percent
Net approval: -18.0 (RCP Average)
Is the country on the right track or not?
Right track: 19 percent
Wrong track: 74 percent (YouGov/Economist)
