President Joe Biden (D) tried to downplay during an interview that aired on Sunday the skyrocketing inflation rates that have erupted under his presidency, saying that people need to put things in “perspective.”
Biden made the remarks during an interview on CBS News’ “60 Minutes” with leftist host Scott Pelley.
“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,” Pelley said. “What can you do better and faster?
“Well, first of all, let’s put this in perspective,” Biden said. “Inflation rate month to month was just — just an inch, hardly at all.”
“You’re not arguing that 8.3% is good news,” Pelley said.
“No, I’m not saying it is good news. But it was 8.2% or — 8.2% before,” Biden said. “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 —”
“It’s the highest inflation rate, Mr. President, in 40 years,” Pelley responded.
“I got that,” Biden snapped back. “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.”
“The annual inflation rate came in at 8.3 percent…What can you do better and faster to [combat inflation]?”
BIDEN: “First of all, let’s put this in perspective” pic.twitter.com/WIrYG3pUUu
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) September 19, 2022
Scott Pelley: 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?
President Joe Biden: Well, first of all, let’s put this in perspective. Inflation rate month to month was just– just an inch, hardly at all.
Scott Pelley: You’re not arguing that 8.3% is good news.
President Joe Biden: 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–
Scott Pelley: It’s the highest inflation rate, Mr. President, in 40 years.
President Joe Biden: 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. 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.
Story cited here.
