KHALID: But by the fall of 2021, inflation had hit a 30-year high. KHALID: The president said the price increases were the result of an economy roaring back to life after the pandemic.īIDEN: The vast majority of the experts, including Wall Street, are suggesting that it's highly unlikely that it's going to be long-term inflation that's going to get out of hand. JEN PSAKI: Most economic analysts believe that it will have a temporary or transitory impact. JANET YELLEN: I expect all of this to be transitory.īRIAN DEESE: At the end of the day, a lot of that issues are transitory. Biden's team kept using this one word to describe it. The White House insisted it was not a long-term problem. KHALID: But by May, prices were creeping up. The president dismissed those concerns.īIDEN: The way I see it, the biggest risk is not going too big. Larry Summers, an economist who had worked in the Obama administration, took to the pages of The Washington Post and warned it was too much money. ![]() And this set off some alarm bells about inflation. KHALID: So Democrats came in proposing this massive pandemic aid package, nearly $2 trillion. PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: Yesterday, we learned that 900,000 more Americans filed for unemployment. He was worried about COVID, hunger, evictions and unemployment. But I want to take you back in time to Biden's first week in the Oval Office. KHALID: You know, Steve, it has been a challenge. INSKEEP: So how has the White House been responding over time? KHALID: And so they assign that blame to the Democrats. There's, you know, one party controlling what's going on politically. Eggs - same thing.ĭARRYL SHEETS: Our 401(k)s are down by 25 to 35%. And it just seems like it just keeps getting higher and higher and higher. VELVET SHEETS: We never run out of milk, right? We always keep milk in the refrigerator. 1 concern is inflation, and they voted for Republicans up and down the ballot. KHALID: So a little while later, I met Velvet and Darryl Sheets. But what do you hear from Republican voters? INSKEEP: And so they voted for the Democrat in their election. MOUSUMI KARANJEE: I mean, economy is always - like, it has its ups and downs. The COVID situation, supply chain situation - I don't think politics has anything to do with it. And the previous two years has been a very important factor. It's - if economy is bad here, it's globally bad. ![]() SOMESH KARANJEE: The economy, I don't think, has direct relationship with politics. ![]() But they voted to keep their Democratic senator in Congress. They're feeling inflation on everything from bread and eggs to home renovations. That's where I met Somesh and Mousumi Karanjee. It's about an hour's drive north of Atlanta. And so, Steve, I went to an early voting site in Georgia. The key question I have been trying to answer as a political reporter is how, if at all, people's inflation frustrations actually translate to votes. KHALID: Well, a lot of voters I meet - Republicans and Democrats - agree they are frustrated with rising prices, but they differ on who is to blame. ![]() INSKEEP: What are you hearing from voters? Good morning.ĪSMA KHALID, BYLINE: Good morning, Steve. NPR White House correspondent Asma Khalid has been following the White House approach to inflation over time. So today President Biden is expected to give a speech arguing that Republican policies would make inflation worse. INSKEEP: Democrats might prefer that voters focused on something else, but here we are. OK? Nobody eats chitlins but Black people.īUSH: OK? Now they're 24.99, the same bucket that was 8.99 two years ago. MARGARET BUSH: I'll take example - a bucket of chitlins used to be 8.99. The cost of everything - utilities, electric, gas - every vendor's tacking on fuel charges onto the bills. MARK ONDRUSEK: My labor is up 30, 40% versus four years ago. We've heard it the last two mornings from voters on this program. Days before the election, Democrats are addressing an issue that has endangered their majorities in Congress.
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