NEW You can now listen to Fox News articles!
The hosts of CNN, MSNBC and CNBC reacted to the June inflation report on Wednesday, saying it wasn’t “good news for anybody” and that the numbers were much higher than expected.
“If you’re the president of the United States, there are four words you don’t want to say in succession: ‘Worst inflation since 1981,'” MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” host Joe Scarborough said after the news dropped. “I mean we’re going back to the Paul Volcker days honey, that’s not good news for anybody.”
Andrew Ross Sorkin, host of CNBC’s “Squawk Box,” joined the “Morning Joe” crew to recap the numbers and said it’s “an even worse case politically” because spending hurts “middle and bottom most.”
“We are talking about a rent that is higher. We are talking about a gas that we know is higher. And we take for food, which is higher. And so you see these things are permanent. it’s not changing right now,” he continued, adding that the good news is that gas prices have fallen slightly in recent weeks.
People shop at a supermarket as rising inflation affects consumer prices in Los Angeles, California, U.S., June 13, 2022. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson
BIDEN’S APPROVAL RATING WOULD BE HIGHER IF INFLATION WASN’T ‘CONSTANTLY IN THE NEWS,’ WAPO COLUMN SUGGESTS
Inflation rose 9.1% in June from a year earlier, hitting a new 40-year high.
During CNBC’s “Squwak Box,” the hosts discussed where to place the blame for inflation. Joe Kernen listed “Putin’s price gouging,” supply chain problems due to the pandemic, the Fed, fiscal spending and energy issues. Kernen asked Steve Lisman how much blame he would place on each of these factors.
Liesman said he would place fifty percent of the blame on the Fed, but would also place some on fiscal spending and supply chain issues.
Rick Santelli argued that energy problems were at the top of the list and added that central banks also share some of the blame.
Kernen asked about another source of blame, “greedy corporations.”
U.S. President Joe Biden speaks during an event marking the passage of the Safer Communities Act on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, U.S., July 11, 2022. (REUTERS/Kevin Lamarck/File Photo)
MSNBC, CNN, NBC, ABC SPIN INFLATION, OFFER SPENDING ADVICE AS DEMOCRATS PANIC
“I just want to say this, Joe, your idea and kind of ideology assumes perfect markets, and you have to leave some room there, Joe, that there is some decline in competition in parts of this American economy that really gives undue, or great pricing power to companies,” Leesman said. “We have documented research, Joe, on the idea of a growing ‘monopsony,'” he continued.
“Biden is wrong generally, but not specifically, when it comes to individual monopolies that exist,” he said.
On CNN’s “New Day,” Rachel Solomon noted that the numbers are much higher than expected.
“Certainly not a number the White House would like to see, nor would the Fed. So 9.1% y/y, higher even than expected and a new high of 1.3% last month. These are not numbers the Fed wants you to see, they want to see this move in the opposite direction,” she said.
She noted that core inflation, which excludes food and energy measures, fell very slightly from May, when the core was 6%, to 5.9%. On a monthly basis, however, core inflation rose by 0.7%.
West Hollywood, CA, Tuesday, March 8, 2022 – Jesse Espersen of Topanga fills his SUV with 16.536 gallons of Super+ gas at 7.559 per gallon for $125 at a Mobil station on the corner of La Cienega Blvd. and Beverly Blvd. (Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Solomon said the report confirms what most people already know, that inflation is “rampant” and “everywhere these days.”
CNN’s Matt Egan said on “Inside Politics” that “we haven’t seen inflation of 9.1% since November 1981, when Ronald Reagan was finishing his first year in the White House. Many Americans had literally never experienced anything like this.”
He added that high inflation was being driven by the pandemic, the war in Ukraine and “unprecedented” stimulus from Washington, DC. “It means you know wages just don’t go that far for families. And it’s very painful,” he said.
President Biden said in a statement that Wednesday’s report was “irrelevant” because gas prices have declined in recent weeks.
Hannah Panrek is an associate editor at Fox News.
Add Comment