2024-01-14 00:48:02
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden can increasingly claim to have helped solve inflation if he can get voters to believe him.
The figures released last week reflect a historic level of progress in the fight against high prices, and suggest that inflation could approach the 2% target set by the Federal Reserve around the November elections. The consumer price index posted an annual increase of 3.4%, but prices charged by producers of goods and services rose a scant 1% last year.
Current and former administration aides say Biden is determined to do more to reduce inflation after rising prices in 2021 and 2022 crushed his public approval ratings in ways that are hurting his re-election efforts. And they see reasons to be optimistic if consumer confidence improves.
“It is an effort that is underway,” said White House chief of staff Jeff Zients. “Under his leadership, we have attacked inflation from all angles.”
The question is whether voters will notice the improvement and will reward Biden or penalize him because inflation became a problem during his term, when the United States emerged from lockdowns due to the pandemic. The answer could depend on how people feel about the costs of basic necessities like gasoline and eggs.
Biden can claim his policies have helped reduce the average price of a dozen eggs to $2.51, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. This represents a decrease from last year’s high of $4.82. But Republicans can counter that a dozen eggs cost $1.47 before Biden became president.
Prominent GOP lawmakers, including Rep. Jason Smith of Missouri, chairman of the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee, welcomed the latest inflation figures as proof that voters continue to suffer from high prices. :
“President Biden’s inflation crisis continues to rob the pockets of working families,” he said.
Former President Donald Trump has told supporters that inflation under Biden is how “countries die” and that his return to the White House will mean lower energy costs.
“Drill, baby, drill,” Trump said in a video posted on social media. “We are going to greatly reduce your electricity costs. We are going to lower energy prices. Gasoline will return to $2, and maybe even less than that.”
Federal data shows that average gasoline prices did fall below $2 a gallon during Trump’s presidency. But that was in early 2020, during the coronavirus pandemic, when schools and businesses were closed, sending the U.S. economy into shock as millions of people lost their jobs. A historic surge in federal government borrowing stabilized the U.S. economy during the deadly pandemic.
In 2021, Biden inherited an economy gripped by uncertainty about the trajectory of the pandemic. He signed a $1.9 trillion aid package, a sum that Republicans and some economists say triggered escalating inflation, while the consumer price index hit a four-decade high of 9.1. % in June 2022.
Former and current Biden administration officials say the decline in inflation since then was the result of a set of decisions. Biden gave the Federal Reserve the policy space needed to raise interest rates. He strengthened supply chains and helped stabilize gasoline prices.
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