Fox News host Martha MacCallum clashed with Jared Bernstein, Biden’s economic advisor, over whether inflation was being downplayed by the Biden Administration during a Monday interview.
In a 60 Minutes interview on Sunday, President Joe Biden attempted to defend his administration’s handling of inflation. He pointed to lower gas prices as well as the fact that inflation rates have not seen a recent rise. MacCallum pressed Bernstein to repeat the president’s position, but the exchange became more heated.
Bernstein once said, “Hold on, wait, a second!” when he tried to justify the unfavorable inflation numbers using a decrease in gas prices. These are still more than $1.30 above when Biden was elected. “I let you ask your question.”
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“One question is: Is the government using the fiscal accelerator?” Does government fiscal policy contribute to inflation this year? Bernstein stated that the answer is “no” based on more than a trillion dollars in deficit reduction. However, this doesn’t change the fact that inflation is high. We are doing all we can to help. As you mentioned in your introduction, the last few months have been a relief, and gas prices have provided some breathing space for American consumers.
After climbing 8.5% in July and 9.1% in June, the Consumer Price Index rose 8.3% in August. It was 8.6% in May.
Bernstein claimed that the Biden administration had reduced deficits, drawing suspicion from MacCallum.
“Isn’t the reduction due to $3.8 trillion being flooded into the market in various forms of COVID relief, and then it was pulled back?” MacCallum asked, “Isn’t that largely what caused the reduction?” “I don’t think it makes any difference to people with lower wages who must pay more for certain things. These two factors don’t seem to add up.
MacCallum stated, “The problem is people’s wages don’t keep pace with inflation.”
