Inflation has become an irresistible political weapon. Recently, blaming Biden for causing inflation has been a favorite strategy of the political right.
. But he chose, early on, to address one topic that Americans feel especially strongly about. “Here at home, inflation is coming down,” Biden said, to waves of applause. “Gas prices are coming down. Food prices are coming down.” He added, “Inflation has fallen every month for the last six months.”is consistently found by polling to be one of the most despised forces in American society—and this is true almost regardless of whether inflation is actually a problem at a given time.
When it comes to directly influencing which way the inflation rate goes, Stevenson said, “The President has very few levers. And, in this particular case, the Administration has not been an important driver of inflation.” She added that some economists would likely point out things that the Biden Administration could have done differently that might have muted the inflationary pressure the economy has seen in the past couple of years. “But those things are small.
Wendy Edelberg, the director of the Hamilton Project and a senior fellow in economics at the Brookings Institution, agreed. “It’s true, the American Rescue Plan was very large and untargeted and included checks to households that probably weren’t in terrible financial shape,” she said. “Directionally, I’m very confident the American Rescue Plan boosted inflation.