White House Still Blaming Corporations For High Prices

The White House is continuing to lay the blame for Americans’ current financial struggles solely on businesses — claiming that companies are causing the issue by raising their prices and arguing that it has nothing to do with President Joe Biden’s inflation.

White House National Economic Council director Lael Brainard made the assertion during a Friday appearance on NPR, speaking with co-host Ari Shapiro, who pointed out that Americans are unhappy with Biden’s economy — especially worsening inflation.

“That has been the case for almost every month of Biden’s time in office. How do you account for this disconnect?” the NPR co-host asked.

“Well, while the jobs picture is very bright, we know that many Americans are worried that some things are not affordable,” Brainard responded. “And that’s why the president is focused on fighting to bring down costs for hard-working Americans. For instance, the president believes it just isn’t right that prescription drugs are practically unaffordable for many Americans, and that’s why he’s fighting to lower healthcare costs. He got great legislation to cap insulin costs for seniors at $35 a month. That’s down from $400 for many. You know, we also are capping out-of-pocket drug costs for seniors at $2,000 per year. And Medicare has the authority now to negotiate prices, starting with ten drugs next year.”

This insulin policy was proven to be stolen from the Trump administration. When Biden took office, he rescinded an executive order signed by former President Donald Trump that capped insulin costs at $35 per month. Biden then reimplemented that policy later and took credit for it.

Shapiro pushed back on Brainard’s comments, pointing out that insulin was not a good example of lowering costs for Americans, as it is not a product used by the vast majority of Americans. While the cost of insulin has gone down, Americans have seen a 17.6% increase in the price of essential goods and services since Biden took office — including a 20.9% increase in food prices, an 18% increase in rent, and a 24.7% increase in the cost of electricity, according to RNC Research.

Brainard responded by blaming corporations for the price increases, arguing that costs are supposedly decreasing and demanding that businesses pass “those savings on to consumers.”

“We saw a really big jump up in consumer sentiment in the Michigan survey,” he claimed. “And I think consumers are very focused on the costs that matter most to them. Health care is a huge affordability issue for so many Americans. But consumers are also tired of being hit by hidden fees. That’s why we’re cracking down on junk fees in everything from airline ticketing to credit cards to overdraft fees. And it’s also really important, now that we have fixed supply chains and input costs are coming down, corporations need to be passing those savings on to consumers. And we think that will go a long way to continuing that increase in consumer sentiment that we saw today.”

Meanwhile, it appears that the majority of Americans do not blame corporations for their economic woes as much as they blame the government, as a new CBS News poll shows that respondents believe the most important challenge the U.S. is currently facing is inflation — with 70% of Americans disapproving of Biden’s handling of the issue.

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