Biden plan plays softball with inflation

Joe Biden has a plan to tackle inflation: Pass the buck to the Federal Reserve and promise brighter days. In an oped for the Wall Street Journal, the president larded a boilerplate campaign trail pitch with talking points from the Democratic playbook.

With the right policies, Biden wrote, we can transition from recovery to steady growth and bring down inflation. “During this transition, growth will look different. We will likely see fewer record job-creation numbers, but this won’t be cause for concern.”

If anyone is reminded of his statement that inflation is “transitory,” you are not alone.

“Things should also look different from the decades before the pandemic, when too often we had low growth, low wage gains, and an economy that worked best for the wealthiest Americans.”

Actually, in 2019, the year before the pandemic, the U.S. economy was entering its record 11th year of expansion. As the BBC reported, in February of 2020, the unemployment rate stood at 3.5%, the lowest for more than 50 years. And in the three years prior to the pandemic, the U.S. gained an additional 6.4 million jobs.

As to Biden’s grand plan, “First, the Federal Reserve has a primary responsibility to control inflation.” No word on how his administration’s profligate spending helped fuel inflation, but now that it’s here, well, it’s the Fed’s job to control it.

“My predecessor demeaned the Fed. … I won’t do this.”

Biden’s predecessor also worked to make America energy independent. Biden didn’t do that either.

In fact, the president took another victory jog in touting his actions to release global oil reserves as Russia’s oil became fuel non grata following Putin’s attack on Ukraine. No mention of Biden’s nixing the Keystone XL pipeline.

“We can also reduce the cost of everyday goods by fixing broken supply chains, improving infrastructure, and cracking down on the exorbitant fees that foreign ocean freight companies charge to move products.”

Remember fears that the supply chain Grinch would steal Christmas last year? Biden was on the case, and as FoxBusiness reported, touted the steps his administration took to eliminate bottlenecks ahead of the holiday season. Christmas was saved. Under Biden, a Supply Chain Disruptions Task Force, a group of corporate CEOs and administration officials, was established in June of 2021 to address the issue.

Biden’s new plan, as it were, is to continue with actions taken a year ago, only now the supply chain issues are exacerbated by high fuel prices. Food prices are also spiking thanks to the rising cost and dwindling availability of fertilizer and other agricultural chemicals stemming from the Ukraine invasion. Russia is a major exporter of nitrogen, potassium and phosphorous fertilizers.

And what of the Great Resignation? Last year 47.8 million workers quit their jobs, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Employers raised wages and offered bonuses in order to attract workers to fill empty positions. These higher costs are then passed on to the consumer.

Inflation, especially this time around, is a complex beast. It takes a well-thought out, multi-pronged plan that addresses real world factors to achieve solutions.

Replaying Democratic talking points isn’t going to cut it.