On Tuesday evening, just 12 days before Christmas, multiple liberal media outlets ran headlines trumpeting the Labor Department’s latest report on inflation, which in November remained a staggering 7.1% above a year ago.
For perspective, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the pre-Biden annual inflation rate has not been that high since August 1982.
Yet on Tuesday, the media reported that the cost of living was “cooling” (The New York Times), “slowing” (NPR), or “easing” (NBC News).
The headlines masked the real story, as the price index that has hammered consumers almost since the day President Joe Biden took office left out critical data. Food prices were up 12% for the year last month, while energy costs rose 13.1% for the year.
The Republican National Committee seeks to fight back against this misleading narrative.
The RNC on Tuesday released its own report on the “Bidenflation Nightmare Before Christmas.”
Some of the economy’s lowlights included:
- Workers’ average hourly earnings fell 1.9% over the past year, marking the 20th consecutive month that inflation has outpaced wages.
- Last month the Producer Price Index, which is what it costs companies for supplies, jumped by 7.4% in the past year, again 20 straight months that inflation for wholesalers has hovered above 5%
- A poll found that 80% of Americans grade the economy as “not so good” or “poor,” and more than half think America is already in a recession.
- The number of Americans tapping their 401(k)s to handle “financial emergencies” jumped 24% over the last year.
- Even if inflation quit raging right now, prices under Biden would still cost the average U.S. family nearly $9,000 more over the next year. Just in November, inflation cost the typical household an additional $747.
- The U.S. savings rate now sits at a 17-year low.
In the news: Rep. Cammack Denounces Biden Admin For “Absolutely Insane” Hiring Of Luggage Lifter
And things continue to look bleak for the holiday season.
- The Christmas price index – which measures the cost of gifts according to the “Twelve Days of Christmas” – is up 10.5%, the biggest spike since 2008, during the Great Recession.
- 41% of Americans report they plan to spend less this year than last, making this the “most cautious” holiday spending season since 2013.
- Travel is no bargain either, with round-trip flights up 39% over last year, hotel rooms and rental cars running 12 percent and 46 percent more costly, respectively, from 2019, and the average price of gas nationally sitting at $3.25 a gallon, up 37% from the day Biden entered the White House.
Meanwhile, Biden and his fellow Democrats continue to maintain that the American Rescue Plan, the Inflation Reduction Act and the student loan bailout, which collectively cost the country $3 trillion it didn’t have, are good for the economy.
In a statement issued Tuesday, GOP Sen. Rick Scott of Florida, who has bird-dogged the administration on inflation since Biden took over, declared bah humbug.
“As inflation continues to rage and make life harder for American families, Washington Democrats are doubling down on their plans for even more reckless spending and a bigger IRS to snoop on your finances,” Scott said.
“When the new Congress convenes in January, Republicans in the Senate, along with a new Republican majority in the House, can begin the important work of building a real, balanced budget, repealing Biden’s 87,000 agent IRS army and its insane $600 transaction reporting threshold, and getting America’s finances back in order.”
“It’s time to stop caving to Democrats and stand up for what the American people want in Washington: less government, less spending, and more accountability,” Scott added.
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