Biden’s Chief Of Staff Calls Inflation A ‘High Class Problem’

President Joe Biden’s chief of staff retweeted a claim that inflation is a “high class problem” Thursday, dismissing the millions of Americans who are seeing prices for daily necessities spike.

White House chief of staff Ronald Klain gave a full-throated endorsement of a former Obama administration official who argued that the current inflation and supply chain chaos impacts only high class Americans. The Biden administration has worked frantically in recent weeks to stave off mounting backlogs in U.S. supply chains. The White House also warned Tuesday that American consumers should expect higher prices and even some empty shelves come Christmastime. (RELATED: ‘It’s Unprecedented’: Builders Running Out Of Key Construction Materials, Forced To Find Alternatives)

This 👇👇 https://t.co/ymh53nEHAg

— Ronald Klain (@WHCOS) October 14, 2021

“Most of the economic problems we’re facing (inflation, supply chains, etc.) are high class problems. We wouldn’t have had them if the unemployment rate was still 10 percent. We would instead have had a much worse problem,” wrote Jason Furman, a Harvard professor and former member of President Barack Obama’s administration. (RELATED: Washington Post Columnist Jennifer Rubin Suggests Congress Should ‘Defund Walter Reed’)

Klain’s tweet conflicts with statements from other senior administration officials from earlier this week, who warned that Christmas shopping is likely to be heavily impacted for Americans.

“There will be things that people can’t get,” a senior White House official told Reuters on Tuesday. “At the same time, a lot of these goods are hopefully substitutable by other things … I don’t think there’s any real reason to be panicked, but we all feel the frustration and there’s a certain need for patience to help get through a relatively short period of time.”

A Sept. 29 study from Salesforce predicted that retail prices could rise as much as 20% compared to 2020. Women’s clothing, jewelry and watches had already risen 11.9% and 12.9% respectively as of August.

The Biden administration has negotiated for major corporations such as Walmart and international ports to maintain 24/7 operation to help alleviate supply chain backlogs. The president will also lift travel restrictions for the Mexican and Canadian borders in early November, allowing fully-vaccinated foreign nationals to travel freely into the U.S.