On Wednesday night, President Biden’s White House Chief of Staff, Ron Klain, apparently sympathetic with the infamous quote attributed to 18th century French Queen Marie Antoinette, “Let them eat cake” regarding starving plebeians, agreed that the current inflation was a “high-class problem.”
Klain echoed the claim of the former chairman of former President Barack Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers, Jason Furman, who tweeted, “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.”
Klain simply echoed, “This.”
This 👇👇 https://t.co/ymh53nEHAg
— Ronald Klain (@WHCOS) October 14, 2021
The Daily Wire noted on October 5:
An important inflation measure reached its highest level since 1991. As the Bureau of Economic Analysis revealed, personal consumption spending rose by $130.5 billion dollars in August — representing a 4.3% year-over-year hike in the Personal Consumption Expenditures Price Index.
The PCEPI — used by the Federal Reserve to set its inflation rate targets — has risen for the past several months. In April, the metric hit a 3.6% year-over-year growth rate before rising to 4.0% in June and 4.2% in July. Also in August, personal income rose by $35.5 billion and disposable income rose by $18.9 billion. Government stimulus measures — especially the Child Tax Credit — played a significant role in the higher income levels. Because the $130.5 billion increase in expenses vastly outpaced earnings, however, the Bureau of Economic Analysis’ findings show that purchasing power is diminishing.
As far as supply chains being a “high-class problem,” CNN reported on Wednesday:
The supply chain nightmare is jacking up prices for consumers and slowing the global economic recovery. Unfortunately, Moody’s Analytics warns supply chain disruptions “will get worse before they get better.” “As the global economic recovery continues to gather steam, what is increasingly apparent is how it will be stymied by supply-chain disruptions that are now showing up at every corner,” Moody’s wrote in a Monday report.
Suzanne Clark, the president and CEO of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, stated, “This supply chain crisis is hurting businesses and consumers alike, leading to inflation and shortages of key supplies. Coupled with massive labor shortages, this is a major threat to our fragile economic recovery and long-term competitiveness.”
On Wednesday, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg seemingly made light of the supply chain problems. CNN’s Brianna Keilar asked, “So holiday expectation management, as we’re looking at the supply chain issues, how bad are they going to get for Americans, and I’m talking specifically, you know, leading here into the December holidays, where people are relying on getting goods, on getting presents?”
“Well, they’re — I think there’s always been two kinds of Christmas shoppers,” Buttigieg joked. “There’s the ones who have all their lists completed by Halloween and then there’s people like me who show up at the mall on Christmas Eve. If you’re in that latter bucket, obviously there’s going to be more challenges.
WATCH: Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg makes a joke about how difficult it will be for families to get Christmas presents this year. pic.twitter.com/178YC9aB7m
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) October 13, 2021