CALIFORNIA, USA — When asked if the Biden administration takes any responsibility for inflation, the president said the global supply chain disruptions due to the pandemic and the war in Ukraine are at fault, and that the Republicans in the gridlocked Senate are to blame for slowing down solutions.
Speaking at the White House less than six months before the elections, Biden acknowledged that he could “taste” the country’s dissatisfaction with Washington, particularly over rising prices, but he sought to channel the anger against the GOP.
“Look, I know you’ve got to be frustrated,” he said. "I know, I can taste it. Frustrated by high prices, by gridlock in Congress, by the time it takes to get anything done.
He said the slowdowns were due to "MAGA Republicans," a reference to former president Donald Trump’s “Make America Great Again” campaign slogan.
However, California Republican Assembly Leader James Gallagher said both President Biden and Governor Gavin Newsom own this crisis.
“The real path forward is what we propose. Let's cut it (the gas tax) for middle-class families right now. Let's cut their gas tax. That's the first thing we can do," he said. "Let's do a rebate here in California, where we have a $68 billion surplus, because we've taxed people too much. That's why we have that money. Give it back to them, so they can deal with these high costs that have been caused by the Biden administration. This is Biden inflation.”
The former chief economist of Wells Fargo and the U.S. Senate Banking Committee said there's lots of blame to go around. Fingers can be pointed in part at both the Trump and Biden administrations.
“Inflation basically started in 2020 and continued into 2021 on the basis of expansionary or fiscal policy," John Silvia said. "In other words, the federal government spent a lot of money.”
The good news is that he believes we could be at the peak of inflation right now.
“(That) so far has been totally ignored," he said about the good news. "And people are saying, 'well, inflation is high.' Yeah, it's high, but it's going down, and that's the trend that you really want to follow.”
He said we are seeing a downward trend in specific indexes, but he said it could still take two to three years for prices to go all the way back down to the prices people like to remember.
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