WASHINGTON — President Biden claimed Wednesday that voters were wrong to blame him for high inflation because it “was 9% when I came to office” — when in fact it actually was just 1.4%.
“No president has had the run we’ve had in terms of creating jobs and bringing down inflation, It was 9% when I came to office — 9%,” Biden told CNN’s Erin Burnett in a rare interview.
The 81-year-old president defended his economic policies after Burnett pressed him on the fact that “voters by a wide margin trust [former President Donald] Trump more on the economy.”
Biden insisted ahead of his November rematch against Trump that he already “turned around” the economy, despite persistently high inflation and interest rates.
Inflation crept up shortly after Biden took office before surging to rates unseen since the early 1980s, peaking
at an annual rate of 9.1% in June 2022 — 17 months after he took office.
Biden’s critics, including prominent Democratic economists, say massive spending passed during Biden’s first year in office fueled the rapid loss of a dollar’s buying power by effectively printing more money.
Since Biden took office, the average prices of goods and services have
increased 19%, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data.
During Trump’s four years in office, by comparison, prices increased by 8%, or roughly 2% per year.
“Voters by a wide margin trust Trump more on the economy — they say that in polls — and part of the reason for that may be the numbers,” Burnett told Biden during a day-trip to swing-state Wisconsin.
“And you’re aware of many of these, of course: the cost of buying a home in the United States is double what it was — when you look at your monthly costs — from before the pandemic, real income when you account for inflation is actually down since you took office, economic growth last week fell short of expectations, consumer confidence — maybe no surprise — is near a two-year low.”
Burnett asked: “With less than six months to go to election day, are you worried that you’re running out of time to turn that around? “
“We’ve already turned it around,” Biden insisted.
“Look at the [University of] Michigan survey — 65% of the American people think they’re in good shape economically. They think the nation is not in good shape. They’re personally good shape. The polling data has been wrong all along.”
Biden said that high inflation was the result of “corporate greed” and “shrinkflation,” after previously blaming COVID-19 supply chain issues and Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
“There’s corporate greed going on out there,” the president said.
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