To all of the bitter skeptics who doubted President Joe Biden, Treasury secretary Janet Yellen and the Federal Reserve, I have a message for you: come forth now with your most heartfelt apologies.
For a few months the Ivy League know-it-alls had to back-pedal their claims that inflation was transitory.
But that changed this week.
After months of ridicule, it is Joe Biden and his team of Nobel Laureates (all seventeen of them) who are getting the last laugh.
Inflation changed faster than anyone could have imagined. In fact, according to the White House, we went from 9.1 percent inflation in June to 0 percent inflation in July.
Joe Biden — as pleased with himself as ever — couldn’t wait to break the news to the American people. Before departing on a week-long vacation to Kiawah Island in South Carolina, he proudly announced his huge win.
“I want to say a word about the news that came out today relative to the economy. Actually, I just want to say a number: zero. Today, we received news that our economy had zero percent inflation in the month of July. Zero percent.”
Zero?
The conservatives who were worried that the around $700 billion “Inflation Reduction Act” would increase inflation must feel pretty stupid right now. The sweeping climate reform bill is already working its magic and it hasn’t even passed in the House yet! Just the thought of 87,000 IRS agents was enough to send inflation running in the other direction.
Vice President Kamala Harris put her “border czar” duties on hold to parrot Joe’s announcement. She told the crowd at the United Steelworkers Constitutional Convention on Wednesday that, “last month our economy had zero percent inflation.” White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre did her part in spreading the administration’s Pravda-du-jour and tweeted, “We just received news that our economy had 0% inflation in July.”
It didn’t take long for non-White House entities to start repeating the administration-approved talking point. Axios echoed the narrative with the headline, “Inflation drops to zero in July due to falling gas prices.”
So where is the confetti? The Champagne? The bowls of chocolate-chocolate chip ice cream? Surely we should have some sort of celebratory holiday in Joe’s honor for this amazing turn of events?
Unfortunately, the White House and their loyal fans in the mainstream media are ignoring one slight problem: in reality, inflation did not suddenly drop to 0 percent. It dipped to 8.5 percent.
In April — the last time the CPI was at 8.5 percent — the media outlets that are cheering now were pointing out that it was the first time inflation had reached that level since 1981.
While any decrease in inflation is good news, Biden’s team of “experts” are acting like 8.5 percent inflation is something to brag about. Then again, Ron Klain and his minions also expect parades when the price of gas falls under $4 a gallon or the president’s approval rating hits 40 percent. Soon we will be getting graphs depicting how many days the president has gone without falling off of his bicycle.
Joe Biden has always practiced the soft bigotry of low expectations when it comes to the American people. He does not think the average American can explain the supply chain crisis and he thinks that the Latino community is diverse, “unlike the African-American community.” He speaks down to reporters and condescends to minorities.
But it would seem that the shoe is now on the other foot. Ironically, the man who had such low expectations for all of us is now lowering our nation’s standards, but Americans know better.
