President Joe Biden said Wednesday said there were no quick fixes available that would bring down inflation or end record gas prices.
Speaking on the issue he has called his top priority following an event on the infant formula shortage, Biden cited external causes and limitations on what could be done to control inflation.
‘There’s a lot going on right now. But the idea we’re going to be able to click a switch, bring down the cost of gasoline, is not likely in the near term. Nor is it with regard to food,’ he said.
‘We can’t take immediate action that I’m aware of yet to figure out how we’re bringing down the prices of gasoline back to $3 a gallon. And we can’t do that immediately with regard to food prices either,’ he said.
Biden cited the war in Ukraine, which has bottled up the country’s wheat exports.
‘The idea we’re going to be able to click a switch, bring down the cost of gasoline, is not likely in the near term,’ President Biden said Wednesday
‘There’s a lot to do. We’re in a situation where because of a war in Ukraine, gas prices and food prices are extremely high,’ Biden said.
‘For example, we got millions of tons of wheat that is not able to get out and get to market, causing everything from a loaf of bread to cost so much money to food shortages all across the world. And so we’re trying to work through, you know, a war, trying to work through how we can get that harbor open and get the, you know, tens of 1000s of tons of grain that are there,’ he said.
He cited the EU’s decision to cut back certain purchases of Russian oil.
Even without a silver bullet on inflation, Biden spoke of other policy moves that would lover costs and ‘compensate’ families.
‘There’s more than one way to maintain the standard of living for people,’ Biden said, mentioning prescription drug costs and child care – two issues in stalled Build Back Better legislation.
‘You can compensate. You can compensate for example by having drug prices drop significantly,’ the president said.
‘The bottom line is the bottom line,’ he added.
When White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was asked to respond to a Ukrainian idea to provide naval corridors to get Ukrainian goods out of the Black Sea, she was non-committal.
‘That is something that I would actually have to go check on as well,’ she said.
He spoke as U.S. gas prices soared to a record high of $4.67 per gallon on average nationally, with prices jumping 48 cents in May alone, according to AAA. And for the first time in history, the average price has exceeded $4.00 in all 50 states.
Biden’s comments came after Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen flatly admitted she was ‘wrong’ with earlier predictions that there was only a ‘small risk’ of inflation – which has now become such a concern that it is President Biden’s top priority.
‘I think I was wrong then about the path that inflation would take,’ she acknowledged to CNN in an interview.
Biden last summer said price increases were ‘temporary.’ Interviewer Wolf Blitzer played back clips of Yellen in the past saying ‘I think there’s a small risk and I think it’s manageable’ and ‘I don’t anticipate that inflation is going to be a problem.’
She told Blitzer Tuesday: ‘As I mentioned, there have been unanticipated and large shocks to the economy that have boosted energy and food prices and supply bottlenecks that have affected our economy badly that I didn’t – at the time, didn’t fully understand. But we recognize that now.’
‘I think I was wrong then about the path that inflation would take,’ Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said of her prior statements downplaying inflation risks
One of the customers at the LA gas station called his bill ‘f**king crazy,’ as Chevron said the prices are set by the owners of the station, not the company
The national average for gas is $4.67 a gallon, with the national high being $6.19 in California
‘The Federal Reserve is taking the steps that it needs to take,’ Yellen continued.
‘It’s up to them to decide what to do. And for our part, President Biden is focused on supplementing what the Fed does with actions we can take to lower the cost that Americans face for him important expenditures they have in their budget. Prescription drugs is one example.’
Both Yellen and Fed Chair Jerome Powell, who met with Biden yesterday, said last year that inflation was expected to be ‘transitory.’
The Biden is undertaking new steps to demonstrate its commitment to fighting inflation. Biden penned an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal Tuesday, and members of his economic team hit the airwaves on Tuesday to sell his proposals.
Meanwhile, the White House communications shop is batting down suggestions that Biden’s policies have contributed to inflation, which Janet and other administration members attribute to external factors like the war in Ukraine, supply chain problems, and the effects of the pandemic.
President Joe Biden has called inflation his top priority
Inflation has been hitting Americans at the pump. Biden calls it ‘Putin’s price hike’
The war in Ukraine has also contributed to rising food costs
The national average for gas is $4.67 a gallon, with the national high being $6.19 in California
Inflation spiked as the nation made its way through the pandemic
Inflation hit a 40-year high this year
She declined to join in when asked about former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers’ comment that the Fed needed to do some ‘soul searching’ for its own botched calls on inflation, having held off on rate hikes.
‘Look, I’m not going to comment on the Fed’s policies. Chair Powell is made clear that he has every intention and believes as I would that the Fed has the tools to bring inflation down and that’s his focus.’
‘The economy is I think it’s fair to say, operating at full employment with the strongest job market in generations. Inflation is too high, and it’s got to be brought down.’ she added.
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