Senator Joe Manchin at NETL. July 7, 201. Photo Simon Edelman, Energy Department.
No one who has paid even the remotest attention to the skyrocketing prices of the Biden administration is under any illusion that they were caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Prices were rising well before the first shot was fired in Easter Europe. Despite that, the Biden administration has pushed hard to blame its inflation problem on what it calls the “Putin Price Hike.” In a recent press conference, Press Secretary Jen Psaki seemed to attempt to fit the catchphrase into her response about inflation as many times as possible.
Got a bum education,
double-digit inflation
Can’t take the train to the job,
there’s a strike at the station.— Raheem J. Kassam (@RaheemKassam) April 11, 2022
Even Democrats know Joe Biden is killing the party with his sophomoric inflation policies. Now, having had enough of Biden’s embarrassing blame game, Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) has taken Biden to task. The Daily Mail reports:
West Virginia Democrat Senator Joe Manchin is blasting the Biden administration for responding to record-high inflation with ‘half-measures and rhetorical failures’ after the Labor Department revealed Tuesday that the average price of consumer goods hit a 41-year high.
He said Americans deserved to know ‘the truth’ of what fueled a staggering 8.5 percent inflation rate in March from the year prior — a price hike he likened to a new ‘tax.’
‘Let me be clear, inflation is a tax and today’s historic inflation data tells another chilling story about how these taxes on Americans are completely out of control,’ the moderate Democrat said.
‘Hard earned wages and financial savings are disappearing faster every month as prices continue to climb, while the pain and frustration of spending more on everyday items lingers over us all, especially among those who can afford it the least.’
The new data show Americans are being hit hardest at the pump, with the price of gasoline soaring by 49 percent. It’s part of a global trend of soaring fuel costs after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine plunged the global energy supply chain into chaos.
Tuesday’s inflation report is the first to capture the full picture of Vladimir Putin’s impact on the U.S. economy after he ordered his brutal attack on February 24.
President Joe Biden frequently points out the Russian autocrat’s role in Americans’ financial hardship, dubbing it ‘Putin’s price hike.’
Manchin appears to allude to the blame-shifting in his statement, claiming it is ‘a disservice to the American people to act as if inflation is a new phenomenon.’
He also takes aim at the Federal Reserve, who he accused along with the White House of not acting decisively enough to fight rising costs of groceries and housing that have outpaced record increases in wages and job growth.
‘The Federal Reserve and the Administration failed to act fast enough, and today’s data is a snapshot in time of the consequences being felt across the country,’ Manchin said. ‘Instead of acting boldly, our elected leaders and the Federal Reserve continue to respond with half-measures and rhetorical failures searching for where to lay the blame.’
‘The American people deserve the truth about why record inflation is happening and what must be done to control it.’
He continued, ‘Here is the truth, we cannot spend our way to a balanced, healthy economy and continue adding to our $30 trillion national debt.’
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