President Joe Biden made a claim in a recent interview with Yahoo Finance that has raised some eyebrows regarding the U.S. inflation rate when he took office in January 2021. Biden asserted that the inflation rate was 9% at the beginning of his term, a figure significantly higher than the actual rate of 1.4% recorded at that time. It wasn’t until 17 months into his presidency, in June 2022, that inflation exceeded 9%, reaching levels not seen since the early 1980s.
During the interview, President Biden responded to a question about why families might not feel “wealthy” right now by saying, “I think inflation has gone slightly up. It was at 9% when I came in and it’s now down to about 3%,” a statement that contradicts official statistics. He added that despite the economic challenges, his administration is focused on maintaining stability and continuing to create quality jobs whose pay rates outpace inflation. However, according to the latest data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, median weekly wages have not kept up with inflation, which has been described as the worst in a generation.
Remember, these were the same people who told us inflation was “transitory.”
Joe Biden has now twice in one week claimed that inflation was at 9% when he took office.
It’s a particularly hilarious lie because inflation was 1.4% when he took office and hit a HIGH OF 9.1% in June 2022.
That was the largest increase over 12 months since 1981. pic.twitter.com/TnVMVduDQw
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) May 14, 2024
Following Biden’s interview his former economic advisor Robert Wolf appeared on Fox News and spouted the same nonsense. It was so egregious that host Sandra Smith bursted into laughter.
Fox News’ @SandraSmithFox bursts into laughter after former Biden econ adviser @robertwolf32 claims inflation was “9 or 10 percent” when Biden took office pic.twitter.com/HI0KxWHN1x
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) May 15, 2024
As the clip made the rounds on social media Wolf did respond claiming that he was in a mobile van and had a bad connection. Wolf said due to the poor question he “thought the question was peak inflation under Biden & it has gone down 60% as to my answer I’ve been doing FoxNews for years so I always try to get the facts right thanks.”
To his credit, in the video you’ll see Wolf tap his ear and signal to someone behind the camera and Smith said he was having technical difficulties.
Hey @tomselliott
No issue being called but I did the segment from a mobile van & connection was poor & then went down- I thought the question was peak inflation under Biden & it has gone down 60% as to my answer
Ive been doing #FoxNews for years so I always try to get the facts… https://t.co/3G6e3PezcX— Robert Wolf (@robertwolf32) May 15, 2024
