White House "Surprised" and Disappointed By Record Levels of Inflation, Manchin Calls Pause to #BuildBackBrandon

Local confused old man wanders away from burning home, baffled that fire follows spark.

The White House was forced on the defensive on Wednesday by a worse-than-expected inflation report that showed the largest annual increase in prices in three decades and triggered fresh criticisms of its legislative agenda on Capitol Hill. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported the pace of inflation accelerated in October compared to September, with prices rising 0.9 percent and more than 6 percent over the prior 12 months.

[Prices climbed 6.2 percent in October compared to last year, the largest increase in 30 years, as inflation strains economy]

Manchin has said he might put a break on the whole #BuildBackBrandon bill over the explosive inflation:

The Biden administration has faced unexpectedly strong political head winds by the continued rise in inflation. Polling suggests voters are frustrated over rising prices, and Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.) has pointed at rising inflation as a reason to pause on some parts of the White House's agenda.

"By all accounts, the threat posed by record inflation to the American people is not 'transitory' and is instead getting worse," Manchin said in a statement on Wednesday. "From the grocery store to the gas pump, Americans know the inflation tax is real and DC can no longer ignore the economic pain Americans feel every day."

Manchin reportedly wants to stop #BuildBackBrandon until next year. Which isn't that far away. But as we get into 2022, moderates will get more and more worried about the midterms.

Via Ed Morrissey, the top economic advisor for Barack Hussein Obama admits that the inflation is largely driven by Biden's multiple rounds of unprecentedly huge "stimulus."

"It's a large blow against the transitory narrative," said Jason Furman, who served as the top economic adviser in the Obama administration. "Inflation is not slowing. It's maintaining a red-hot pace."

...

"A sizeable chunk of the inflation we're seeing is the inevitable result of coming out of the pandemic," said Furman, now an economist at the Harvard Kennedy School.

Furman suggested, though, that misguided policy played a role, too. Policymakers were so intent on staving off an economic collapse that they "systematically underestimated inflation," he said.

"They poured kerosene on the fire."

A flood of government spending -- including President Joe Biden's $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package, with its $1,400 checks to most households in March -- overstimulated the economy, Furman said.

"Inflation is a lot higher in the United States than it is in Europe," he noted. "Europe is going through the same supply shocks as the United States is, the same supply chain issues. But they didn't do nearly as much stimulus."

posted by Ace at 03:46 PM

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