The Biden White House is notorious for making claims about the economy and inflation that they think makes them look good but in reality don’t.
For instance, there was this tweet from July 2021 where they boasted about how the average price of a cookout in America had allegedly fallen a whopping 16 cents from the previous year:
Planning a cookout this year? Ketchup on the news. According to the Farm Bureau, the cost of a 4th of July BBQ is down from last year. It’s a fact you must-hear(d). Hot dog, the Biden economic plan is working. And that’s something we can all relish. pic.twitter.com/7h9qLauIbC
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) July 1, 2021
Then there was a now-deleted tweet they posted in November 2022 giving the Biden administration a pat on the back (as they had also done a month prior) for Social Security recipients getting a large COLA increase starting in January 2023. As it turns out, they were responsible for the increase – but just not in a way they wanted voters to know about:
Things are changing at Twitter. pic.twitter.com/tS9ua1ioAu
— Ben Kew (@ben_kew) November 2, 2022
The latest instance of the Biden team committing a pretty spectacular self-own came courtesy of the recently released consumer price index report, which showed inflation for the month of May at 4 percent:
Consumer prices rose just 0.1 percent in May and are up 4 percent over the past year, according to key inflation data released Tuesday morning by the Labor Department.
Inflation as measured by the consumer price index (CPI) dropped sharply last month, bringing annual price growth down to its slowest pace since March 2021.
The drop in inflation will likely keep the Federal Reserve on track to pause its aggressive run of interest rate hikes Wednesday.
In response to the news, here’s how the Biden White House spun it:
Great news: Today’s inflation report shows annual inflation is now at the lowest level since March 2021, and less than half of what it was last June.
This is giving families real breathing room. pic.twitter.com/l5k3B9WU2t
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) June 13, 2023
Except notice something about their chart? It shows inflation skyrocketing in 2021 not long after Joe Biden took office. So in effect they are saying they’ve “fixed” the problem that started under their watch, I guess?
Fox News national correspondent Bill Melugin noticed the tweet, and called it out for being what he described as a “strange flex.”
“Not sure why the White House would tweet this chart? It shows inflation shooting up as soon as they took office…then they take credit for dropping it down from 40 year highs. Strange flex,” Melugin wrote.
And as former investment banker-turned-small business advisor Carol Roth observed, the picture is not as rosy as Biden is trying to paint it:
“Inflation isn’t down, inflation growth is down. While obviously this is much better than inflation growth continuing and a good trend, let’s not gloss over how the compounding effects of inflation are utterly destroying the middle/working class.”
CNBC pointed out a couple of inconvenient truths as well:
Excluding volatile food and energy prices, the picture wasn’t as optimistic.
So-called core inflation rose 0.4% on the month and was still up 5.3% from a year ago, indicating that while price pressures have eased somewhat, consumers are still under fire.
We eagerly wait for our esteemed “fact checkers” in the mainstream press to jump right on this little discrepancy. Or not.
