United States President Joe Biden said that his "top domestic priority" is inflation and how best to address it as he claimed that the coronavirus pandemic and Russian President Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine were the two primary factors that caused the situation.
The Democrat tried to deflect blame on Tuesday for the rising prices in the country using a direct attack on Republicans. Biden said that GOP members were pursuing what he called an "ultra-MAGA agenda." It is a phrase that he has used in recent days as a reference to former President Donald Trump's "Make America Great Campaign" slogan.
United States Inflation
The current president's critics have continuously scrutinized him for months of inflation that has risen to 8.5%, which shows the fastest 12-month pace since 1981. On the same day of Biden's speech, the Republican National Committee sent out a news release that accused the Democrat of being "desperate to blame anyone but himself for the worst inflation in 40 years."
Biden and his top White House aides have insisted that "extreme" policy ideas from GOP members would only make inflation in the United States worse instead of better. The remarks come as they seek to turn the debate over the economy against the opposition, as per the New York Times.
In his statement, Biden said he wanted to be clear about the problem of inflation plaguing the United States. He said that COVID-19, a once-in-a-century pandemic, shut down the global economy and threw the supply chains and the demand completely "out of whack."
Biden then blamed Putin's war on Ukraine, adding that 60% of inflation in March was due to price increases at the pump for gasoline. When asked by a reporter regarding taking any responsibility, Biden said that his administration's policies are alleviating the situation.
But according to Fox News, conservatives took to Twitter to voice their frustration with the U.S. president's alleged narrative of external forces being the primary cause for inflation. Spencer Brown posted an infographic of the national average gas prices and noted that it showed what Biden's policies have done to prices in just one part of the economy.
Causes of the Situation
In another tweet, Guy Benson said that Biden's speech was listless and somewhat adrift with what it was trying to say. He claims there were various totally predictable talking points that were filled with familiar specious claims.
Shortly before the speech, Sen. Ted Cruz shared a Reuters article that claimed Biden was going to criticize Republicans for having no plan to stop inflation during his remarks. The Texas Republican captioned the post with his own assessment of the president's handling of the economy.
On the other hand, Fordham University economics professor Dr. Giacomo Santangelo said that right now, there was not much that either Democrats or Republicans do to quickly turn inflation around. He argued that with the money supply increasing faster than the production in the U.S. due to supply chain issues, all of the funds that are just floating around have driven prices up, CBS News reported.
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