Biden defends inflation policy, says ‘red states have really screwed up’ their economies in latest interview
President Biden defended his administration by saying insisting on falling inflation and that “red states” were screwing up their own economies.
Biden sat down with MSNBC host Lawrence O’Donnell for the final interview of his administration before officially leaving office on Monday. The two discussed many topics, including Biden’s management of the economy and the threat of inflation.
The president dismissed criticism of his handling of inflation, arguing that the alternative was job losses.
President Biden discussed many topics surrounding his administration with MSNBC host Lawrence O’Donnell. (MSNBC screenshot)
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Rejection of warnings from economists like Larry Summers that his COVID-19 stimulus spending would cause more inflation, Biden argued that otherwise “the only way to deal with inflation is to create unemployment and another recession.”
“But guess what? I was absolutely convinced. Give the American people half a chance. They’ll step up and get the job done if you give them a chance. Look what they’ve done. They’ve stepped up in every major endeavor,” he said. he said. “I never believed we couldn’t have a soft landing. We had a soft landing. Inflation is down to almost 2%, there’s a lot going on.”
The Ministry of Labor announced this on Wednesday inflation increased by 2.9 percent in December, up from 2.7% in November and the highest rate since July 2024.
Biden went on to argue that red states have “screwed up” on their own and that more investment is needed in them than in blue states.
“And look, the other thing, Lawrence, I’ve gotten a lot of criticism. Understandably so. We’ve invested more in red states than blue states…for two reasons. One, red states have really screwed up in terms of how they’ve handled their economies and the way they manage manufacturing, the way they manage access to supply chains,” Biden said.
Most Americans still rate the economy as only “fair” or “bad” in a new Fox News survey. (Photo: Ting Shen/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Reports revealed that states under Republican leadership like Florida and Texas recovered much faster than blue states after the pandemic.
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AND new research from Fox News on Thursday showed nearly twice as many people think the Biden administration has made the economy worse than better, 52% to 28%. In addition, nearly all voters, 89%, say they are extremely or very concerned about inflation — up from 83% at the start of Biden’s tenure.
Inflation rose by 2.9% in December, which is 0.2% more than in November, according to the Ministry of Labor. (stock)
70% of voters say the economy is in bad shape, and six in 10 Democrats agree that the economy has been only fair or in bad shape.
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Dana Blanton of Fox News contributed to this report.
