Progressives Are Putting Ideology Over Fixing Inflation

Written by Hudson Crozier

Americans are facing record-high inflation: Americans experienced a harsh economy in the past year with large price increases for gas, food, and other essentials. Through a combination of supply shortages, excessive printing of money, and corporate profit grabs, inflation rose 6.8 percent since 2020, the highest one-year increase since 1982.

They blame Biden's policies: According to a November poll by Yahoo News and YouGov, most Americans consider inflation ''the most important issue facing America,'' and 77 percent say it personally affects them.

• An October poll by Morning Consult and Politico found that 62 percent believe President Biden's policies are to blame, either somewhat or fully.

• In December, his economic approval ratings dropped to the worst of any first-year president since Jimmy Carter, a CNN poll revealed.

How the mainstream Left has responded:

Gaslighting: On Jimmy Fallon's ''Tonight Show,'' Biden claimed that Americans are fed ''inaccurate information'' about the economy, that it ''has grown more than it has in close to 60 years," and remarked humorously that he doesn't ''pay attention anymore'' to his approval ratings.

• When a Fox News reporter asked if inflation would be "a political liability" for Democrats in the upcoming midterm elections, Biden seemed to call it a sign of achievement: "It's a great asset - more inflation." As the reporter walked away, Biden remarked, "What a stupid son of a b----."

Weaponizing the media: CNN reported that Biden's staff had briefed several top news outlets on the need for more ''favorable coverage,'' primarily on his handling of the economy. The report noted that ''the conversations have been productive.''

Shifting blame: Press Secretary Jen Psaki told reporters that meat companies raise prices out of ''corporate greed.'' Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts) wrote a letter to several large grocery chains in which she accused them of "pushing grocery cost increases onto consumers" for profit. Neither acknowledged the role of government spending in inflating the currency.

Declining approval for Biden's spending plan: Democrats seek to pass Build Back Better, Biden's multi-trillion-dollar social spending plan, through the Senate.

• An October poll by CBS and YouGov showed that ''only about a third of Americans think the plan would help them directly – or help the economy at all'' and that ''a majority admit to either not knowing specifics or anything at all'' about its content.

• Another poll by Morning Consult/Politico in December showed a rapid decline to just 45 percent approval over 40 percent disapproval.

Reckless spending: Much of Build Back Better is devoted to wildly partisan objectives like tax-funded abortion and climate change. On the basis of flimsy public approval for their extreme agenda, progressives are willing to impose even higher inflation on working-class Americans through their spending. When moderate Democrat Joe Manchin (D-West Virginia) raised concerns for inflation in opposition to the bill, the White House and several Democratic Congressmen only ridiculed him.

Progressives are more focused on ideological goals than the economic conditions experienced by millions of Americans.