Jared Bernstein's spinterview

 This morning, Jared Bernstein was interviewed by Fox News's Shannon Bream. Right off the start, Bernstein let alert viewers know that this wouldn't be a straight interview. This would be a spinterview -- half interview, half spin.

Bream's first question was "So, it's been almost a year to the day since President Biden last year said that no serious economists thought that we would enter a period of unchecked inflation. We were at 5.4 percent then. We're at 9.1 percent as of this week. How did the White House get this so wrong?"

Bernstein replied "that actually was the dominant forecast at the time and we were very much citing forecast across the board, including those of the Federal Reserve. And I think there are number of issues. One is that there were some unforeseen things that occurred. For example, a war in Ukraine. Now, Ukraine and Russia are both bread baskets and energy baskets for the world, and those have put considerable upward pressure on prices.

Let's be exceptionally clear about this. Inflation had jumped from 1.4% on Inauguration Day to 5.4% on the 4th of July, 2021. That means that inflation quadrupled in 5 months. That wasn't just unforseen. It was predicted. This inflation spike was caused by Joe Biden's and the Democrats' policies.

Let's remember, too, that Russia didn't invade Ukraine until Feb. 24, 2022. By then, inflation had hit 7%. Had Biden not sabotaged the energy industry and spent trillions of dollars on COVID relief, we wouldn't be in this crisis.

So, for example, inflation, which is unacceptably high -- let's get that clear right out of the gate -- went up 1.3 percent in June. Again, an unacceptably high increase. Half of that increase is energy prices alone.

Now, since then the price of gas has come down 50 cents a gallon. There are now 20,000 gas stations across this country where gas is below $4 a gallon. Still too high, but that's moving in the right direction, giving Americans some much-needed breathing room. Now, they need more and we're working on it, but that is a move in the right direction.

Gas prices aren't coming down because there's excess supply. They're coming down because people can't afford to buy the groceries they need and still fill their cars. People are getting squeezed. It isn't because things are improving, like Mr. Bernstein implied.

BERNSTEIN: But you also have some very strong tailwinds that are boosting consumers. Now, some of that has the American rescue plan's finger prints all over that, especially the fact that families, at least on aggregate, have quite solid balance sheets, businesses as well.

BREAM: Well, to that point, let's talk but some of the headlines dealing with household, how their wallets are doing.

BERNSTEIN: Uh-huh.

BREAM: The first headline, consumer credit card debt and annual percentage rates are headed to an all-time high. Next headline, car repossessions are surging. And the next one, Americans are eating into their pandemic savings to handle inflation.

Then Bernstein said this:

And you said it exactly correctly, Shannon, folks are tapping those savings to continue to keep consumer spending strong. Now, I am here to tell you that would not be the case where it not for the American Rescue Plan getting shots in arms and checks in pockets. So, the residual of that is still being felt.

If not for the American Rescue Plan and Biden's sabotaging of the energy industry, the economy would be growing faster. Because of those 2 things, inflation skyrocketed and the economy is teetering on the edge of a recession, if it isn't in a recession already.

While Americans suffer with inflation, Joe Biden's Democrats keep pushing their Green New Deal agenda without hesitation. Democrats aren't worried about listening to people. They're worried about checking items off their ideological checklist.

The Cavalry is coming this November but it's essential that we keep pushing our prosperity agenda each day. Democrats will be energized. It's important that conservatives stay motivated too. If we don't take back both the House and Senate, we won't be able to push our pro-prosperity agenda.

Let's remember that Democrats are the Hate-America-First Party.