Joe Biden's Top Economic Advisor Vague In Answering Reporter's Questions On Inflation
Brian Deese.
Jun. 16 2022, Published 5:22 p.m. ET
President Joe Biden's top economic advisor was vague when answering questions about inflation on June 16.
With inflation at a level not seen in four decades, Fox News anchor Martha MacCallum asked Brian Deese, director of the White House National Economic Council, when inflation could ease up, the New York Post reported.
This comes after the Federal Reserve enacted the highest interest rate hike since 1994 to help with inflation which rose to 8.6 percent last month.
Brian Deese.
“Give us a timeframe. We’re at 8.6% in inflation right now. When do you expect to see inflation in the 2% range, based on everything you are doing in your plan. When will that happen?” MacCallum asked Deese on June 15.
Deese vaguely responded that there are "a lot of predictions out there" concerning when it would return to the 2% range that the Fed wants to see before dropping interest rates.
“What I can tell you is this – that right now, the most constructive steps that Congress and the executive branch can take to help support what the Fed is trying to do are to lower the costs that families face directly and to lower the federal deficit,” Deese said. “And we have laid out a very specific plan to do that.”
Joe Biden.
McCallum responded by pushing for a more specific answer to the question.
“When do you expect to see inflation at 2%? Will it take three months? Will it take a year? Will it take two years? What are your projections telling you?” MacCallum followed up.
Deese, once again, went in a different direction, echoing Biden's claims that $5-plus average gas prices are the result of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Brian Deese.
“We know that the price of oil and the price of gas at the pump are being affected by Putin’s brutal war in Ukraine, but what we also know is that if we take the kinds of steps that we’re talking about, that we’ll get through that process more quickly,” Deese said.
MacCallum again redirected the question, asking, "What is quickly? Can you define quickly? Give me just a ballpark, like, you know, we’re looking at a six-month situation with the kind of numbers we’re in right now, or we’re looking at two years?"
“There’s a lot of people out there who are in the predicting business. We’re in the building business. We’re in the business of trying to put policies in place that will actually accelerate that outcome,” Deese said.