Joe Biden has tried blaming inflation on a variety things that aren’t him, but he’s settled in on mostly blaming Russian president Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. Jerome Powell, the Chairman of the Federal Reserve, has conceded that the war in Ukraine hasn’t been the major driver of inflation and that it was already pretty damn high before the conflict. Joe, BTW, nominated Powell to the position.
Here’s some tweets that definitely violate Twitter’s disinformation policy:
The Major Economies Forum met today at a moment when urgent energy issues demand our action.
— President Biden (@POTUS) June 17, 2022
Russia’s brutal assault on Ukraine has fueled a global energy crisis, driving up inflation worldwide.
We must work together to tackle inflation and mitigate the fallout of this crisis.
With the biggest single driver of inflation being Putin’s war against Ukraine, @POTUS has taken action to blunt the impact of Putin’s Price Hike for families.
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) June 20, 2022
Powell testified at a Senate Banking Committee’s hearing on Wednesday and Tennessee Republican Sen. Bill Hagerty asked him if Biden’s “Putin’s inflation” claim had an validity:
Jerome Powell says that war in Ukraine is NOT the “primary driver” of inflation, despite the Biden administration’s claims suggesting otherwise. pic.twitter.com/xvbJpdqlat
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) June 22, 2022
“I realize there are a number of factors that play a role in the historic inflation that we’re experiencing. Supply chain disruptions, regulations that constrain supply, we’ve got rising inflation expectations and excessive fiscal spending. But the problem hasn’t sprung out of nowhere. In January of 2021, inflation was at 1.4%. By December of 2021, it had risen to 7%, a five-fold increase,” started Hagerty.
“Now, since the war in Ukraine began in late February, the rate of inflation has risen incrementally, another 1.6% to a current level of 8.6%. So again, from 7% to 8.6%. Given how inflation has escalated over the past 18 months, would you say that the war in Ukraine is the primary driver of inflation in America?” Hagerty asked.
“No inflation was high before, certainly before the war in Ukraine broke out,” Powell said.
BOOM!
But wait, Powell wasn’t done lobbing nukes at Biden’s bullshit talking points. As you probably know, Biden keeps insisting that there is no recession looming and in fact snapped at a reporter recently for suggesting it, calling her a “Republican.”
And yet, The Hill reports:
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell acknowledged Wednesday that the central bank’s battle against high inflation could tip a so-far resilient U.S. economy into a recession.
Testifying before the Senate Banking Committee, the Fed chief ceded that the bank’s ongoing series of interest rate hikes could slow the economy enough to halt job gains and economic growth — the two signs of an economy in retreat.
Inducing a recession is “not our intended outcome but certainly a possibility,” Powell said when asked by Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) if the Fed could trigger a downturn.
The question is, who do you believe? The Chairman of the Federal Reserve or the guy said, “My butt’s been wiped” to reporters?
