Media Claim Inflation ‘Slowing’ Even Though Prices Skyrocketing

Inflation rose again in July 2024 for the 42nd consecutive month since President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris took office in January 2021. Yet, corporate media demand that Americans celebrate the 2.9 percent price hike plaguing their pocketbooks as an “inflation milestone.”

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ consumer price index for last month, Americans paid 2.2 percent more for food, 4.9 percent more for electricity, 5.1 percent more for shelter, 8.8 percent more for transportation, and 3.3 percent more for medical care than they did in July 2023. Even compared to May 2024, July’s inflation showed a 0.1 to 0.9 range of price hikes across most basic goods and services.

Outlets like CNN, however, used the data to claim that inflation “slowed more than expected.”

MSNBC marveled that inflation “falls below 3 percent for the first time since 2021.”

The New York Times took it even further when the publication claimed that “Easing Inflation Has Democrats Tasting Victory.” The article quoted former deputy director of the National Economic Council Bharat Ramamurti, who triumphantly declared, “We’ve won the battle against inflation.”

The positive percent change on each CPI report dating back to February 2018, however, indicates that Americans are experiencing skyrocketing costs more than they were this time last month, last year, or even during the Trump presidency.

The media’s optimistic portrayal of the dismal inflation statistics strongly contradicts Americans’ feelings about the nation’s financial standing. Polls indicate that inflation is and has been voters’ top concern for the duration of the 2024 election cycle. In fact, many of them hold largely negative views about the state and direction of the U.S. economy simply because of the toll inflation has taken on their bank accounts and livelihoods.

Prices are so high that not even Harris, despite her best Axios-aided propaganda efforts, can successfully “distance herself” from the administration’s role in record-breaking inflation. Basic goods and services cost at least 20 percent more now than they did when Biden and Harris first entered the White House.

Four years of financial turmoil exacerbated by Democrats’ Harris-endorsed excessive spending has wrecked Americans’ monetary standing. As of November 2023, Americans needed an extra $11,434 annually to keep their standard of living from the beginning of 2021. Since inflation has done nothing but climb since then, there’s no doubt that estimate has only grown

U.S. household debt is at an all-time high of $17.69 trillion, and at least 27 percent of adults have no savings. Adults who do not have the cash to cover ever-increasing expenses often rely on credit cards. Yet, at least one in 10 credit card holders and one in 12 automobile loan recipients let their payments slip in the second fiscal quarter of 2024.

Democrats, their new presidential nominee Harris, and their allies in the media will continue to pretend that inflation is no longer a problem. The Americans and American companies who are routinely blamed for the financial phenomenon draining their wallets should not forget, however, that their financial woes can be directly traced to the blue party and their policies. 

Jordan Boyd is a staff writer at The Federalist and producer of The Federalist Radio Hour. Her work has also been featured in The Daily Wire, Fox News, and RealClearPolitics. Jordan graduated from Baylor University where she majored in political science and minored in journalism. Follow her on X @jordanboydtx.