This past Sunday, the continually climbing levels of inflation forced Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) to rush forth and attempt to try and deflect some of the consequential heat off of his fellow Democrats.
While speaking on a segement of CNN’s “State of the Union,” Old Man Sanders attempted to defend the Congressional Democrats, along with the Biden administration as a whole, by making the claim that despite Democrat failings, Republicans just had no plan at all to fight inflation and should be rejected by the American voter. This mindset spawned quite a bit of pushback from the show’s host, Jake Tapper.
“[I]f I’m a swing voter out there, a young voter, working-class voter, and I hear your message, I think, ‘but you guys control everything. Democrats control the House and the Senate and the White House. And inflation is really high. And I’m having a tough time making ends meet. Why should I vote for you again?'” posited Tapper.
“We have half the votes, exactly half the votes of the Senate and a tiny majority in the House,” answered Sanders. “It’s important that, when we talk about inflation, Republicans will say, ‘well, this is Joe Biden’s fault.’ Really? Our inflation rate is much too high. It is eight percent. It is ten percent in the U.K., ten percent throughout Europe, seven percent in Canada. Inflation is a global problem.”
Sanders attempted to hurl the blame for inflation onto the breakdown of various supply chains that happened throughout the pandemic, Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and “corporate greed.”
“What are the Republicans’ response to inflation? What do they want to do? Well, maybe they want to cut wages for workers,” Sanders went on. “Do they want to raise the minimum wage? No, they don’t. So, I think it is important to take the attack to the Republicans. What do they want to do, other than complain?”
Inflation managed to climb once again throughout this past September, making its way up to 8.2% year-over-year. The month-to-month levels of inflation quickly outpaced the forecasts from various analysts, increasing by 0.4%. However, one report from the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget discovered that reckless spending, such as the various stimulus packages issued throughout the COVID lockdowns, managed to push much of the inflation that is being currently experienced. This analysis found that sound fiscal policy was the most important, yet missing, part in battling rising prices.