Joe Biden Claims Inflation Overshadows Strong Economy as US Surprisingly Adds Half a Million Jobs in January

President Joe Biden is paying a significant price for rising inflation, which persisted during his first year in office rather than dissipating as he predicted.

His $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package, adopted in March, fueled what is expected to be the greatest economic growth since 1984, and lowered the jobless rate to 3.9 percent faster than analysts estimated.

Biden admits inflation "clobbered" Americans

President Biden acknowledged on Friday that Americans are being "clobbered" by inflation, which has soared under his watch, but he seemed oblivious to the details, claiming that hamburgers are now "four times" more costly.

In December, inflation reached a 40-year high, with the cost of goods and services rising 7% over the previous year. However, the price of ground beef jumped by 13 percent from a year ago in December, according to the federal Consumer Price Index, not by 400 percent as Biden claimed.

Customers' prices have climbed as a result of greater expenses for fast-food burger makers. Last year, McDonald's reported it raised menu pricing by around 6%. Biden has previously used the price of beef to illustrate his understanding of inflation, according to the NY Post.

US adds 467,000 jobs in January

Despite an increase in COVID-19 cases caused by the Omicron variant, Biden recognized the impact of inflation while praising an unexpectedly robust employment report that showed the US gained 467,000 jobs in January.

The good news came only a week after the White House cautioned that the job report statistics would be disappointing because of a spike in Omicron cases in early January, which might distort data. Due to COVID-19 pandemic, most economists did not expect significant growth in January, as per METRO.

Meanwhile, the unemployment rate increased slightly in January, rising from 3.9 percent in December to 4% in January. Last month, the Dow Jones forecasted a 3.9 percent unemployment rate. In his statements on recent job reports, Biden praised the country's unemployment rate although several of them showed job creation falling short of experts' expectations.

The president referenced the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report of the seven-day average of Covid-19 cases dropping more than 50% since peaking in mid-January.

In the aftermath of a once-in-a-generation pandemic, he alluded to a "K-shaped" economic recovery that had increased inequality. The government had a straightforward strategy, and Treasury Department Chair Janet Yellen would assist in its implementation.

Per CNBC, the world would return to normal under a supercharged recovery once hundreds of millions of Americans were vaccinated against COVID-19 and billions of dollars in fresh government expenditure poured into the economy.

A year later, inflation is depressing the economy, sucking the air out of strategy meetings, enraging voters, and jeopardizing Democrats' razor-thin governing majorities. Despite economists' warnings and months of promises from the Federal Reserve and the White House, this is taking place.