Insight

“Under democracy one party always devotes its chief energies to trying to prove that the other party is unfit to rule — and both commonly succeed, and are right.” —H. L. Mencken (1880-1956)

Observations

“If we had any honest media, they might ask the chairs of the January 6th committee why they have now intentionally scheduled January 6th hearings twice on the day inflation data was announced. Seems like a very transparent & desperate attempt to try & change the media narrative.” —Clay Travis

“It’s looking like a really bad bet to gamble on a giant piece of legislation aimed at ‘Inflation Reduction’ that was just a bait-and-switch climate change-related spending spree. This is a ballgame. Democrats acknowledged inflation is the singular economic issue of our time and the cavalry was coming. But it isn’t, everyone knows it, and folks who needed and expected relief because you promised it are not going to be thrilled.” —Noah Rothman

“To this day, I have never heard a normal person say that they are worried about ‘our democracy.’ But inflation? Its discussion is ubiquitous.” —Charles C.W. Cooke

Dumb & Dumber

“According to the latest tracking poll, the economy is the number one issue people like to hear candidates talk about, ahead of abortion and immigration. But if the economy is the number one issue to voters, then there is one party that will have an incentive to make it better, and that party is the one that has the presidency, the Democrats. The other side, the Republicans, have an explicit incentive to make the economy worse. And I will tell you, having covered the Tea Party Congress in 2011 amidst the recovery from the financial crisis, I feel confident predicting that if Republicans win control of one or both houses of Congress, they will do everything in their power to sabotage the economy to best set them up to retake the White House in 2024.” —MSNBC’s Chris Hayes

“There are already Republicans saying, hey, if they can get control of the House or the Senate then they’re going to hold hostage things like Social Security and Medicare. … They want to be able to use these kind of levers to blow up our economy.” —Senator Elizabeth Warren

Spin Doctors

“We are making progress. … We have policies that are going to make a difference. We have policies that have already made a difference. We just have to stay the course.” —National Economic Council Director Brian Deese

“The president released oil from the Strategic Reserve. That contributed to almost a hundred day [sic] of gas declines. I mentioned our work on the supply side. The Inflation Reduction Act. Lowering medical care costs. Lowering prescription drug costs. Lowering the cost of clean energy. So all of these are moving in the right direction. They take time to factor into these price indices.” —Council of Economic Advisers member Jared Bernstein

“Our economy is strong. It’s resilient.” —Council of Economic Advisers chair Cecilia Rouse

The BIG Lies

“Overall, inflation was 2 percent over the last three months. That’s down from 11 percent over the prior three months. And that’s progress. … I just couldn’t disagree more with my Republican friends who say that the biggest problem in our economy right now is that working folks are making too much money. No, that’s the argument: Workers are making too much money, and too many people are working, too many jobs are being filled. I think that’s a bunch — as we Irish say, a bunch of malarkey. … Republicans are campaigning every day on an agenda to raise your costs. … Republicans are going to make you — working, middle-class folks — pay higher taxes. … If Republicans win, inflation is going to get worse. It’s that simple.” —President Joe Biden

Yellow Journalism

“The Social Security COLA Will Ease the Sting of Inflation.” —The New York Times (“So cost of living adjustments that now bake inflated prices into the cake will ease the sting of inflation. Interesting take, NYT!” —Ben Shapiro)

“Biden’s rescue plan made inflation worse but the economy better.” —The Washington Post