Home Depot co-founder Ken Langone blasted President Joe Biden over his “absurd” remarks about the economy, calling him out as a “liar” for his repeated false claim.
The president has claimed more than once in recent days that he inherited inflation rates from his predecessor and that his administration has been responsible for a drop in the rate.
But Langone, among others, criticized Biden for his blatant fib, accusing the mainstream media of giving the Democrat a “pass” while pointing out that the “numbers speak for themselves.”
The billionaire businessman and top Republican donor reacted Tuesday on “The Ingraham Angle” to claims Biden made about inflation that even CNN fact-checked.
The president told CNN in an interview last week: “No president’s had the run we’ve had in terms of creating jobs and bringing down inflation. It was 9 percent when I came to office, 9 percent.”
CNN, to its rare credit, aired a spectacular, unprecedented takedown of Joe Biden on his economy https://t.co/BaZZUDjJaG via @BIZPACReview
— BPR based (@DumpstrFireNews) May 9, 2024
The 81-year-old went on to make a similar claim in a Tuesday interview with Yahoo Finance, saying, “I think inflation has gone slightly up. It was at 9 percent when I came in, and it’s now down around 3 percent.”
“Why do liars lie? Because they lie. That’s why you call them a liar,” Langone told Fox News host Laura Ingraham on Tuesday.
“That’s the most absurd remark in the world to say that inflation was 9% when he came in,” he continued. “It was… 1.4%.”
“How can you believe them? The numbers speak for themselves,” Langone said. “Think of all of the other things he said that have no basis, in fact, none.”
“And the irony of it is, the American people, because of the media, he’s being given a pass,” he noted.
The consumer price index (CPI) increased 1.4% year-over-year, according to a U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics report from the same time Biden was inaugurated in January 2021.
The stark reality of the numbers is an obvious fact-check of the president. Even CNN rebutted the claims by the commander-in-chief:
Biden’s claim that the inflation rate was 9% when he became president is not close to true. The year-over-year inflation rate in January 2021, the month of his inauguration, was about 1.4%. The Biden-era inflation rate did peak at about 9.1% – but that peak occurred in June 2022, after Biden had been president for more than 16 months. The March 2024 inflation rate, the most recent available rate at the time Biden made these comments, was about 3.5%, up from about 3.2% the month prior.
“In other words, Biden’s claims make it sound like inflation is much lower today than it was when he was inaugurated – but it is actually higher, though there has been a steep decline since the June 2022 peak,” the outlet noted. “And while Biden’s claims make it sound like the end of the Trump presidency was plagued by high inflation, inflation was unusually low during Trump’s last months in the White House amid the economic slowdown caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.”
In a statement to CNN, a White House official tried to clarify Biden’s words.
“The President was making the point that the factors that caused inflation were in place when he took office. The pandemic caused inflation around the world by disrupting our economy and breaking our supply chains.”
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Originally from New York, Powers graduated from New York University and eventually made her way to sunny South Florida. Powers also contributes to BizPac Review.
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