In a yet-to-be-released episode of her podcast Unmuted, Sen. Marsha Blackburn spoke with former President Donald J. Trump’s economic advisor, Stephen Moore, about the state of the economy, which the senator said is in much worse shape than the Biden administration’s official numbers.
“[R]ight now, Tennesseans are spending about $1,000 a month more than they were spending in 2020 during President Trump’s time,” Blackburn said before introducing Moore. “And repeatedly, I hear these questions. How are they arriving at these inflation numbers when they tell us it’s really not that bad? And we go to the grocery store in the gas pump and go by the clothing store, and prices are through the roof.”
Recently, Blackburn has been railing against the Biden administration’s claim that inflation is at only 3.4 percent and asked Moore how Biden’s team is manipulating inflation numbers.
Moore said:
Well, let’s start at this 3.4 percent number that they’re rolling out and people are really challenging them on it. And how is it that they arrive at that number? And then secondarily, I want you to explain core inflation because that’s different than the cumulative inflation that is really about 20 percent on Joe Biden’s watch. So how did they get to that 3.4 percent? And then what is core inflation? Well, let me start by saying I agree with you. The central premise of what this interview is about, which was prompted by a lot of your constituents who are saying, wait a minute, I’m facing a lot more inflation than three and a half percent.
Moore explained that what he calls “middle-class essentials,” such as mortgage payments, rent, electric utility bills, groceries, and gas prices, are up about three and a half percent.
But, he said, that doesn’t tell the whole story, and what consumers should be paying attention to is a figure called “core inflation.”
“So what you really want to be paying attention to, what I like to look at is, you know, the month-to-month change, but I like to look not over the last 12 months, but let’s look over like the last four months. Then it’s not 3 and a half percent, it’s closer to 5 percent. You see what I’m saying?” he said.
Overall, according to Moore, inflation has been even higher since Biden took office.
“It is amazing to me, Senator, that in 18 months, in just 18 months, Joe Biden took the inflation rate from 1.5 to 9.1 percent,” Moore continued. “I mean, how do you screw up the economy that quickly? Well, I’ll tell you the answer. You, you spend trillions and trillions of dollars we don’t have. They acted like it was some kind of free lunch, like it was free money. Well, obviously it wasn’t.”
Recently, Blackburn released a guide called “The True Cost of Bidenflation,” as reported by The Tennessee Star.
“Inflation is a top concern for Tennesseans and Americans,” that guide said. “Under the Biden administration, inflation has hit its highest rate in 41 years, and prices across the board are up nearly 20%. Meanwhile, the administration touts that inflation is ‘only’ at 3.4%.
“More than three years have passed since President Biden took office, and Tennessee families are paying higher prices on everything from gas to groceries as a consequence of his failed economic policies,” Blackburn told The Star. “President Biden and his administration have made a habit out of lying about inflation, but the nearly 20% increase in prices since he took office is a hidden tax on hardworking Americans who deserve to know the truth.”
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Pete D’Abrosca is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Pete on Twitter/X.
Photo “Stephen Moore” by Gage Skidmore. CC BY-SA 2.0. Photo “Marsha Blackburn” by Marsha Blackburn.
Blah Blah Blah. More of the do-nothing Senator.