(RightIsRight.co) – President Joe Biden has tried to defend his handling of the lingering sky-high inflation by arguing that the latest consumer price index increase has been a tiny one.
In a television interview on CBS’s “60 Minutes,” he insisted that the United States was undergoing tough times because of the pandemic and boasted that inflation wasn’t spiking higher. Yet, at the same time, many new jobs are being created.
You can watch the video clip further down this post.
“Mr. President, as you know, last Tuesday, the annual inflation rate came in at 8.3%. The stock market nosedived. People are shocked by their grocery bills. What can you do better and faster?” asked CBS interviewer Scott Pelley.
“First of all, let’s put this in perspective. Inflation rate month to month was just– just an inch, hardly at all… No, I’m not saying it is good news. But it was 8.2% or– 8.2% before. I mean, it’s not– you’re ac– we act– make it sound like all of a sudden, “My god, it went to 8.2%.” It’s been…,” the president said.
At this point, he got interrupted by Pelley, who interjected that America was experiencing its highest inflation in 40 years.
“I got that. But guess what we are. We’re in a position where, for the last several months, it hasn’t spiked. It has just barely– it’s been basically even. And in the meantime, we created all these jobs and– and prices– have– have gone up, but they’ve come down for energy,” Biden responded.
“The fact is that we’ve created 10 million new jobs. We’re in– since we came to office. We’re in a situation where the– the unemployment rate is about 3.7%. One of the lowest in history. We’re in a situation where manufacturing is coming back to the United States in a big way. And look down the road, we have mas– massive investments being made in computer chips and– and employment. So, I– look, this is a process. This is a process,” the Democrat president elaborated.
When asked whether the US economy would deteriorate before improving, he rejected that proposition.
At the same time, though, Biden refused to declare before the American people that inflation would decline and instead promised it would be “controlled.”
“I’m telling the American people that we’re gonna get control of inflation. And their prescription drug prices are gonna be a hell of a lotta lower. Their health care costs are gonna be a lot lower. Their basic costs for everybody, their energy prices are gonna be lower. They’re gonna be in a situation where they begin to gain control again. I’m– more optimistic than I’ve been in a long time,” the president said.
Here is the video clip:
60 Min: "What can you do better to lower inflation?"
Biden: "inflation rate month to month was just up an inch."
60 Min:"You're not arguing 8.3% is good news?"
Biden: "You're acting like all of a sudden 'my God it went to 8.2%'"
60 Min: "It's the highest rate in 40 years." pic.twitter.com/DEwugGct4d
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) September 19, 2022
