News/Commentary

KJP warns of ‘highly elevated’ inflation rate, but don’t worry they ‘understand’ your pain

July 12, 2022 | | Print Article

With the Consumer Price Index (CPI) reflecting forty-year high inflation in May, Americans may want to brace themselves for the June numbers due out on Wednesday.

The White House has spent the month trying to convince the nation that their top priority is combatting inflation and reducing record-high gas prices, with President Biden not only targeting Big Oil but even going after the mom-and-pop gas station owners to lower their prices, suggesting that they were price gouging.

Yet, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre made it clear on Monday that the administration is expecting even worse numbers — some news outlets are expecting an 8.8 inflation rate, which would be an increase from the 8.6 rate in May.

“So on Wednesday, we will have new CPI inflation data, and we expect the headline number, which includes gas and food, to be highly elevated, mainly because gas prices were so elevated in June,” she said at the daily press briefing.

“Gas and food prices continued to be heavily impacted by the war in Ukraine,” Jean-Pierre said, adding that the report was “backwards-looking.” According to Biden’s spokesperson, the elevated numbers are “already out of date” because of a modest drop in energy prices.

“June CPI data is already out of date because energy prices have come down substantially this month and are expected to fall further,” she said.

Yet, the administration doesn’t seem to have many answers… but don’t worry, they “understand” your pain:

In addition to blaming Russian President Vladimir Putin, the war in Ukraine, Big Oil and mom-and-pop gas station owners, Biden has added another fall guy: the Republican Party.

“Republicans are doing nothing but obstructing our efforts to crack down on gas-price gouging, lower food prices, lower healthcare costs, and hopefully, soon, lower your prescription drug costs. This is not right. And that’s why this election is going to be so darn important,” the president tweeted Sunday evening.

The tweet on Sunday followed this message tweeted last week: “My message to the companies running gas stations and setting prices at the pump is simple: this is a time of war and global peril. Bring down the price you are charging at the pump to reflect the cost you’re paying for the product. And do it now.”

Here’s a quick sampling of responses to the story from Twitter:

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