According to a press pool report, President Joe Biden made an admission about his signature Inflation Reduction Act.
“I wish I hadn’t called it that. It has less to do with reducing inflation than it does providing for alternatives that generate economic growth,” Biden said, according to the press pool report.
“And so, we’re now in a situation where if you take a look at what we’re doing in the Inflation Reduction Act, we’re literally reducing the cost of people being able to make their — meet their basic needs,” Biden said.
“Even when there is inflation there is a way to provide breathing room,” he added, citing negotiating medical prices as one example.
That’s quite the contrast from what Biden said in July 2022.
“The Inflation Reduction Act is the strongest bill you can pass. It will lower inflation, cut the deficit, reduce health care costs, tackle the climate crisis, and promote energy security,” he said.
A recent inflation report has shown that the year-over-year inflation rate has risen from 3%-3.2%.
From Reuters:
Wall Street’s main indexes finished flat on Thursday, giving up most early gains on milder-than-feared inflation data as investors worried about the U.S. economy’s longer-term prospects and whether stocks had further room to run.
Data showed headline and core consumer prices both climbed by 0.2% in July, with the headline number notching annual rise of 3.2% and the core up 4.7%.
Below is a statement President Biden posted on his social media account on July 28, 2022.
My message to Congress is this:
The Inflation Reduction Act is the strongest bill you can pass. It will lower inflation, cut the deficit, reduce health care costs, tackle the climate crisis, and promote energy security. pic.twitter.com/YtF1h7G7R5
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) July 28, 2022
In the meantime, the Fed is trying to bring inflation down to 2% over time and hasn’t ruled out further rate hikes.
US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell stated, “we’re determined to bring inflation down to 2% over time.”
“I think I think it’s appropriate for people to buckle up and be prepared for the possibility that rates do remain higher for longer,” says Mark Hamrick, a senior economic analyst at Bankrate.
