In an Oval Office meeting with Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell on Tuesday, the president said his top goal is fighting inflation while he highlighted the agency’s role.
“My plan to address inflation starts with a simple proposition: Respect the Fed,” said the president.
Right now, that means a series of hikes in interest rates.
Critics charge the administration is late to the game.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen admitted she was slow to recognize the danger last year when she said the risk of inflation was “small” and “manageable.”
“I think I was wrong then about the path that inflation would take,” said Yellen.
CBN News Financial Editor Drew Parkhill said the administration has been wrong for months.
“They had repeated warnings,” Parkhill said. “Before they took their big COVID relief plan, they were warned by top Democratic economists, Larry Summers and so forth, ‘Don’t do this. This is big spending. This is going to fuel the worst inflation in a generation’ – that’s exactly what happened.”
This all comes as Americans struggle with skyrocketing prices on goods and services.
“Food, gas, everything, it’s hard to make a living and go to work,” said Jeneen Thomas of Brewerytown, Philadelphia, PA.
Gas prices keep reaching record highs, hitting $4.67 per gallon on Tuesday. One station in Los Angeles was even charging over $8 per gallon.
As prices continue to climb the president’s poll numbers are plunging. Voters are angry about the state of the economy heading into the midterm congressional elections – an issue that puts Democrats’ control of the U.S. House and Senate up for grabs.
The White House is planning a month-long focus on the economy in an attempt to show the president’s dedication to fighting inflation.
But CBN News Chief Political Analyst David Brody said the move lacks substance.
“This feels just very much like a playbook from the White House,” Brody said during an interview on CBN’s Faith Nation. “It’s June, so therefore it’s going to be a breakthrough inflation month and they’re gonna have some sort of theme involved and here comes the Op Ed and here comes certain press conferences and policy initiatives and executive orders.”
Meanwhile, the unemployment rate dropped to 3.6 percent in April, but it might be too little too late. A new Gallup poll found nearly half of Americans call the country’s economic conditions poor.
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