Biden celebrates continued easing of inflation
Haisten Willis
Video Embed
President Joe Biden welcomed the news that inflation has continued easing, saying it’s a continued sign of economic progress.
Inflation slowed to a 6% rate in the year ending in February, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Tuesday, a welcome sign as the Federal Reserve prepares to meet for a monetary policy meeting.
SVB COLLAPSE: BANK CRISIS BECOMES ANOTHER BIDEN VS. TRUMP WAR AHEAD OF 2024
“Today’s report shows annual inflation is down by a third from this summer at a time when the unemployment rate remains near a 50-year low,” Biden said in a prepared statement. “That is the slowest annual increase since September 2021. I will continue working to lower costs for hard-working Americans so they have a little more breathing room at the end of the month.”
The much-anticipated numbers from the consumer price index show that while inflation is much too high, it is cooling in response to the Fed’s aggressive interest rate hikes.
Inflation had been running at 6.4% the month before. Tuesday’s report marks seven straight months of declines in annual inflation after the rate peaked at 9.1% in June. Inflation was 1.4% the month Biden took office, and the Fed’s target rate is 2%.
The president’s statement also touched on the Silicon Valley Bank collapse and related worries about its wider economic effects.
“As I’ve long said, and as challenges in the banking sector remind us, there will be setbacks along the way in our transition to steady and stable growth,” Biden said. “But we face these challenges from a position of strength. More than 12 million jobs have been created since I took office and the share of working age adults in jobs or looking for work is the highest it has been in 15 years. We will continue to make progress in our fight to build an economy from the bottom up and middle out, not top down.”
Higher prices are hitting consumers hard. The rising cost of food, in particular, has been difficult for many households. The price of chicken has risen 8.8% over the last year, while dairy products have increased in price by 12.3%.
The Fed will meet next week to decide whether to raise interest rates, with some expressing concern that if it does hike rates once again, it could lead to a recession. That’s an outcome Biden very much wants to avoid.
“I will do everything in my power to prevent us from going backwards on the progress we’ve made — including by standing up to Congressional Republicans who threaten economic catastrophe over the debt limit in order to secure tax cuts for the wealthy and large corporations and reckless cuts to critical programs that American seniors and families count on,” the president said.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
The Republican National Committee released its own statement saying Biden has only himself to blame.
“Biden was warned about his wasteful spending,” said RNC spokesman Tommy Pigott. “He forced it through anyway. Now, we are living with the consequences.”