A former adviser to President Barack Obama delivered some bad news to his former vice president, now president, Joe Biden on Thursday.
In an interview with MSNBC’s morning show, Steve Rattner, a former Treasury Department official under Obama, predicted that Americans wouldn’t see the end of the inflation crisis anytime soon.
In fact, he believes that higher prices are not coming down in the foreseeable future, and that’s not going to be good for Biden or Democrats.
“Inflation is here to stay,” and argued it would be “the defining issue” in the upcoming midterm elections, making November “a really tough one” for Democrats.
Co-host Mika Brzezinski began the segment by expressing her concerns about inflation, as well as Democrats “hanging their hat” on being able to solve the issue.
“I’m not sure one person, one country, one party can solve this problem with everything that’s happening around the world,” she stated, before saying that Biden had allegedly been traveling the country to hear from Americans on the issue before asking if it was “here to stay.”
“Inflation is here to stay,” Rattner declared, arguing it was “the defining issue in the midterm elections.” He said that Democrats’ continued control over the House and Senate was at stake as well.
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Referring to charts released by the Federal Reserve outlining the change in inflation rates over time, including a slight dip from March to April, Rattner suggested it was possible inflation might have peaked earlier in the spring.
He explained, however, that gas prices were having big impact on the inflation rate and pointed to them reaching record highs in March as inflation hit a 40-year high, but then dipped in April as the inflation rate saw a slight dip.
He added that if you removed gas prices from the calculation, the inflation rate for April would actually have been 0.4% higher than the massive 8.3% recorded rate.
“Look, the president has been blaming everything except himself and the Democrats for the inflation,” Rattner said, going on to argue the only thing in Biden’s favor was that inflation seems to be “a worldwide phenomenon.”
Rattner then explained what he saw as the causes of the dramatic rise in prices.
“There is a fair amount of self-inflicted pain that we’ve put on ourselves with too much stimulus, too big budget deficits, too much bond-buying by the Federal Reserve, too much money printing by the Federal Reserve, and that’s what’s coming home to roost,” Rattner said.
“And look, it’s the number one issue, and it’s going to be a really tough one for Democrats,” he added.
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