Is this President Biden’s “let them eat cake” moment?
While Democrats spent much of Tuesday high-fiving themselves on the White House lawn for passing something called the “Inflation Reduction Act” that doesn’t do anything to reduce inflation, the most recent consumer price index report came out and tanked the entire ceremony.
While cable networks were airing Biden’s remarks from the White House, the DOW was falling over 1,000 points during the late afternoon.
From CNN’s perspective, this created an “unfortunate split screen” between Biden yelling at the country and telling them how awesome his terrible bill is while the stock market takes a nosedive on the bad economic news of the day:
CNN: "[Biden's] celebrating the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act … But there is this unfortunate split screen right now with the Dow taking a total beating." pic.twitter.com/evYPvF1PCf
— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) September 13, 2022
Tone deaf doesn’t begin to describe the scene at the White House as Americans face ongoing rising food costs, not to mention the newest round of 2023 health insurance premium rates due to come out soon seeing double-digit inflationary increases.
The New York Post captures the situation perfectly by pointing out Biden’s “inflation reduction” party comes literally on the day of a new report indicating worse-than-expected inflation rates:
President Biden threw an “inflation reduction” party Tuesday — even as inflation hit a worse-than-expected 8.3%, the stock market tumbled and stubbornly high prices for food and housing continue to slam American households.
Biden, 79, had classic folk rocker James Taylor kick off the White House South Lawn bash with his 1970 hit “Fire and Rain” — a song reportedly about suicide and heroin addiction — to belatedly celebrate passage of his Inflation Reduction Act spending bill.
But Biden, who hailed the 74-year-old Taylor as “a voice that heals our soul and unites a nation,” failed to mention the market rout sparked by the dismal Labor Department’s Consumer Price Index released earlier Thursday.
The disappointing monthly report showed inflation continued to remain near record-high levels in August – despite a continued demand-driven decline in the cost of gasoline.
This is what the midterm elections will be focused on. Not abortion and not other topics that aren’t directly impacting household budgets every single day.
Where’s the compassion from Biden while he screams at the country about what they’re thinking about and when they’re thinking it?
Joe Biden: THINK ABOUT WHAT YOU'D THINK ABOUT pic.twitter.com/GMCNSZbXlv
— Media Research Center (@theMRC) September 13, 2022
What planet is Biden living on? Millions of people are deciding on how to best pay for gas and groceries everything month yet here’s Scranton Joe yelling at them that they’re so much better off now thanks to a bill he signed to spend more money and likely drive up costs even further.
Polling on the subject shows voters are not being fooled with near-universal agreement across the board that the Inflation Reduction Act is a big fail:
A recent survey from Morning Consult/Politico found that only about 1 in 4 voters believe the bill will reduce inflation. A larger number of voters (34%) think it will make inflation worse.
The split is common in the polling. An Emerson College poll from Aug. 26 found that 34% of respondents believe the law will reduce inflation, with 32% saying it will increase it.
Another poll, from CBS News conducted Aug. 24-26, found 37% of respondents predicting the law would help inflation while 39% think it will hurt. Twenty-four percent predict “not much effect.”
It’s a pit of confusion given how terrible the White House has been at selling its agenda and trying to convince voters not to believe their own lying eyes.
Republicans should try waking up to the reality that it’s Joe Biden playing defense for driving up inflation and mismanaging the economy. This is a once-in-a-decade chance to drive it home and bury Democrats in November over the issues that matter most.
